Lihn Again
by melianatara
Summary: Lihn is my own Creation, she meets Gorillaz and more of Noodle's past is revealed. There's some Russel/OC which is nice, cos he doesn't get enough love. Contains bad language, drugs, alcohol, and violence, don't try this at home, kiddies! : review please!
1. Chapter 1

**You Gorillaz. Me Lihn.**

A wave of nausea swept over her as her feet made contact with solid, would she ever get used to traveling this way? "_Where am I now?"_Before opening her eyes, Lihn reached out with her mind. Finger like tendrils of consciousness sniffing the air. "_Same dimension, same planet_," she concentrated harder, "_same century?…same decade!"_ that was unusual. She had ended up in the same dimension before but usually in another century and place, now she sensed that she was only a couple of years ahead of the date she'd left. She popped open her eyes to take in the scenery and regretted it immediately. Her nose wrinkled with disgust, "where on earth?" she hadn't meant to say it out loud but her vocal cords had been just as surprised as the rest of her. The landscape was hideously damp and dreary. What she could make out in the dim moon light, looked like an old graveyard that was currently being used as a land fill and the smell wafting on the warm air confirmed it, making her stomach churn a little more. Piles of junk and refuse seemed to mark paths like the bushes in a well kept garden would have. Hemmed in the maze of trash were plots of gravestones. These large, ominous chunks of stone stuck out of the ground at various angles as if an earthquake had passed through years ago.

This was very strange. Lihn pulled a thin electronic device out of her pocket, she knew the randomizer had a chance of failure but the readout, and her own senses, confirmed that it had worked properly. So why was she so close, in time and space, to her original destination? And why this strange place? A thought struck her and she pulled a mirror out of the air and held it to her face. "_Yup," _she was wearing the same face as well. An attractive Japanese woman, perhaps in her mid twenties to early thirties. Her deep black hair shown almost purple in the dim moonlight and was pulled back into a pony tail. There were still small wire glasses perched on her nose, slightly magnifying her green eyes. Her body was thin, yet curvy in all the right spots. Her white lab coat fluttered in the sudden breeze that made her wish she'd been wearing slacks and her heels were sinking in the muddy grass beneath her. So what did fate have I mind for her now?

She tried to sigh but nearly gagged from the stench in the air. The mirror dissolved and a scarf materialized in her hand which she held to her face in an attempt to filter out the bad smells as she took another look at the landscape. She gasped when she turned to see what was behind her. There, on the top of a hill jutting out of the flat landscape, was a … building, no other word for it. It looked like a cross between a warehouse, an office building and an asylum. "_What on earth is that doing in the middle of a grave yard?… Or a landfill?"_ It loomed against the night sky and the lights in some of the windows flickered giving it that 'haunted house' feel. Although the fact that there were lights on meant that there should be someone there and it HAD to smell better indoors than it did out here. Now if only she could make it there without losing a shoe.

That was when she herd it. Or maybe she felt it, she could always sense these things, there was movement behind her. She turned, slipping out of her heels with practiced ease and raised her hands defensively. She strained her ears and adjusted her vision better to suit the dim landscape. There it was! Off to the left, at the base of a trash pile, something was moving on the ground, snuffling. It was coming toward her as if it were following her scent.

Lihn's pulse quickened. She hadn't had a good fight in ages. Assassination simply wasn't as fulfilling as smashing something with your bare hands. As the thing crept closer she could see that it was a "_Zombie?" _this dimension had almost everything! First she'd dealt with clones, now zombies? It rose to it's feet as it caught site of her, lurching toward her quickly, if not gracefully. It launched itself at her and she caught it mid air with her barefoot to the side of it's skull and sent it sprawling. It slid to a stop some feet away but immediately rose again and came for the woman. In one movement, she swept the zombies feet and snatched up one of her heels, She was on top of the creature in an instant, trapping it in her guard she bashed it repeatedly in the head with her shoe until she was sure it wouldn't move again. Then, over her own panting, she heard cries and the unmistakable sounds of scuffles. Someone else was fighting not that far away. She snatched up her other shoe and made toward the sounds.

Rounding the corner of a tale trash pile, Lihn nearly ran into another Zombie. Quickly side stepping she slipped behind it and smacked the back of it's head with her shoe, it made a satisfying _smuuuchk _sound as she pulled it back out and she smiled as she ran on in the direction of the closet scuffle. The sounds became more distinct as she got closer. "Take that, creature of the night!" Lihn heard what seemed to be a child's voice and sure enough, as she rounded the next trash pile she collided with a laughing child. The little girl fell backward and rolled immediately to her feet adopting almost the exact defensive position that Lihn found herself in. Realizing that she was not facing a zombie the girl snapped to attention "I apologize." she gave a smart bow, "I did not realize that we had guests." She regarded Lihn with curious eyes and a large smile. "You must be here to see brother 2-D, he had to see a doctor before because he said the inside of his head felt like it had a "_jack hammer_" in it" she ran forward and grasped Lihn's shoe laden hand pumping it, "My name is Noriko, but you can call me "_Noodle_". That's what my brothers call me because they can't understand me" she laughed, then her eyes got big and she tugged on Lihn's arm, "We should go find them because they probably need me!" she turned to go back the way she'd been coming, dragging Lihn with her, "None of them are good fighters like me. Brother Murdoc and Brother Russel might be all right, but 2-D gets confused …"

"Wait!" Lihn dug her bare heels into the ground, "WHAT is going on here?" she asked incredulously. The little girl stopped suddenly in surprise, "You speak Japanese!"

"_Uh-oh"_Lihn DID speak Japanese, she'd spent the last two, almost three decades in Japan, but apparently she wasn't in Japan anymore and running into a Japanese little girl was just a coincident. She'd have to go with it now. It wasn't as if this sort of mistake hadn't happened to her before and depending on where she was, she may get away with speaking two languages. Using her 'talents', she'd be able to understand any language spoken, but she had to be careful about what she used to speak. She'd found that people didn't trust a person who could speak too many languages. "Yes," she smiled, "My name is Dr. NoriLihn," "_Now why did I say that?" _She did seemed to be trapped in that persona but there was a reason Lihn had been trying to ditch it, she could only hope that she was far enough that trouble wouldn't follow. "but you can call me Lihn. Perhaps you can help me, _"Noodle", _I am lost. I am hoping you can tell me where I am, and if attacks by the revenant are normal." Her smile only stretched a little as se said the last part.

"Oh, yes, Miss Lihn! You are on the property of "_Kong Studios"." _She gave a huge smile, _"_And nothing here is normal!" with that the little girl turned and ran off in the direction of someone's shouting without waiting to see if Lihn was following.

Not eager to lose her first contact in this place, Lihn hurried to keep up. Slipping in the slick mud, she managed to keep hold of her shoes, which was a good thing because she needed the unlikely weapons sooner than she'd wanted. She turned a corner just in time to see Noodle skip around a zombie and keep running. Missing the girl, the zombie cast about for another target, it's blank glare locked onto Lihn. "_Great!" _She ran toward the zombie, flinging her shoe as she went, the sharp heel landing squarely in its eye. Spying a metal tube sticking up out of the refuse closest to her, she threw her remaining shoe and snatched it up with out slowing. Brandishing the weapon like a ball bat, she swung as she passed the zombie, knocking it's head, not so cleanly, off. Noodle was a few yards away standing on top of two downed foes, "Not bad, Dr. Lihn!" the words rang to Lihn from a memory, over powering her consciousness momentarily causing her to slip and fall.

…"_Not bad Dr. Lihn, but not good enough!" _… "Ooof" the fall shook her from her reverie and she could hear someone shouting. "Hello!…Is anyone there?" It was being shouted in English, with a thick British accent, not a proper, snobby accent, but the one that makes you smile and think of Tiny Tim.

"That is 2-D!" again Noodle turned and ran simply expecting that Lihn would follow. They didn't run far before they burst out in to a clear patch between the trash heaps. The "Studio" was plainly visible and seemed much closer than it first had. There were large grave markers dotting the ground and what she first took to be another zombie slouching around turned out to be a man with a video camera recording what HAD to be a ghost. He was shouting directions at it as if it were an actor, and the Ghost seemed to be arguing back. "Is anyone there?" was still be shouted somewhere outside the clearing but the man and the ghost were as oblivious to it as they were to her.

"Are you telling ME how to spit rhyme? I'll climb inside your head and have your ass in a senior center 'fore you can blink!" the ghost shouted with a strong New York slur.

"Look 'ere, I'm the Director, you're SUPPOSED to do what I tell you, Twit!" The man with the camera lowered it and slapped his hand to his forehead and drug it down his face. Just then Noodle ran up clinging to his shirt, jumping and shouting. "Murdoc, Murdoc, Brother! 2-D is lost, he needs help!"

"Eh, What? Slow down! You know I can't understand a bloody word you say." he shouted.

"2-D, 2-D" she shouted, pointing in the direction the shouting was coming from. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Sweet Satan, 's he got himself lost again?" the man grumbled "That's a rap people." he said to no one in particular. "Russel! Rus," he shouted, turning to a large gargoyle shaped stone. Lihn hadn't noticed the large man leaning against it, apparently sleeping. He was dressed similarly to the ghost, but he was definitely alive. "wake up, Russel, put that thing back in its cage!" he jerked his thumb toward the ghost, "Rus!" he strode over to the slumbering man and kicked his foot, "wake up!"

The man snorted loudly and his eyes shot open, they were pure white, with no pupils and the ghost suddenly seemed to be trapped in a vortex that sucked him in Russel's direction as he faded away, cursing. The blank eyes in his face suddenly seemed to focus, and stared directly at Lihn. "Who she?" He nodded in her direction. Both Murdoc and Noodle spun to look at her. Murdoc unashamedly looked her up and down, "Hello?" he growled licking his lips and smiling. Noodle bounded over to her almost like a happy puppy and took her hand. "This is Dr. NoriLihn! She was lost but I found her. She can kill zombies with her shoe! And she was helping me find 2-D. Oh! 2-D!" she suddenly remembered her shouting companion. " we must find 2-D!"

The man called Murdoc was half grinning at Lihn and half scowling at Noodle, not understanding a word she was saying.

Is that D?" the big man seemed to notice the shouting for the first time. The question seemed to give Murdoc something to focus on and his head snapped in the direction of the asker. "Russel! 2-D went and got 'iself lost again. Go get the fool 'fore he 'urts 'iself. I'll see to our guest 'ere." The big man rose to his feet glaring at Murdoc but moved off I the direction of the shouter, "Coulda least said "please'." he grumbled rolling his eyes. "C'm on Noodle, you can watch my back."

Noodle bounded off after him presumably to rescue her brother, leaving Lihn standing uncomfortably with the man called Murdoc. He practically oozed over the grass as he came toward her.

"Hi," he oozed with a fake smile, "Murdoc Niccals here, demon bass player and creative genius behind the Gorillaz." He spoke as if she should know what he was talking about but due to her skip in time, she had no clue. Perhaps she should pretend she couldn't speak English. She extended her hand, "Dr. NoriLihn, it is an honor to meet you" that was what she said, but what he heard was, "Dr. NoriLihn, Ome ni kakarete kouei desu."

His face fell, as did his hand, "Shit." he said under his breath. He seemed to recover quickly though, "well, perhaps we should get inside. I'm sure you've had a long trip, get you a cup o tea or something." he put his arm around her shoulder and turned her toward the building. "You ah, don't speak any English do you?" She stared at him blankly. "No o' course not. Why make things easier for me, right?" Not far away, hidden behind yet another heap of trash was a little jeep, with the word GEEP across the front of it. "here we are. You hop in there and me mates'll be right along." He tossed his video camera on the drivers seat and turned away from the jeep. Cupping his hands round his mouth he shouted, "you got to the count o' five to get back 'ere or I'm leaving without ya!"

It was only a moment before Lihn heard the sounds of running feet, then Noodle came into view followed by Russel who had someone throw over his shoulder, he was panting and puffing with the effort but didn't dare slow down with the zombies so close behind him.

"And that's our cue to exit." Murdoc said climbing into the jeep. Lihn hopped into the passenger seat and Noodle climbed into the back. Russel heaved his passenger beside her before pulling himself in. "Is he all right?" Lihn asked Noodle concerning the unconscious blue haired young man.

Noodle laughed, "he passed out from fright! He watches scary zombie movies all the time but whenever he's sees a real one, he freaks!"

"I can't understand why." Lihn said dryly turning back to face the front. Murdoc slammed the vehicle into gear and spun the tires just as the ten or so zombies reached where they were. They shot off into the dark heading toward the building on top of the hill. Lihn hung on to the door handle with a tight grip. She knew she would survive if they wrecked but it wasn't as though she enjoyed pain. As they drew closer to the building she began to worry that the driver wasn't slowing down. But instead of driving into the side of the building, he pushed a button opening a large garage like door, which they passed through into an in-building car park. Murdoc stomped the brakes and shifted down through the gears with ease, narrowly missing a Winnebago and sliding to a stop just before they hit the wall.

Lihn let go of the breath she didn't realize she was holding, and peeled her hand off of the door handle slowly. Russel was attempting to wake 2-D and Noodle was already out of the vehicle chattering away at Murdoc who clearly wasn't listening. He was instead staring at Lihn as if she were a puzzle he was figuring out.

"Noodle," he interrupted, "Why don't you take our guest upstairs to wash up." he said brightly, though his face didn't match his tone. "Do you 'ave any bags?" he shouted at Lihn, mimicking carrying a suitcase, "Bags? Does someone need to get them?" he was articulating each word as if it would help her understand.

"He asks if you have luggage, we could send someone down to the gates to fetch it." Noodle translated.

"Oh I can understand him," Lihn replied with her eyes still on Murdoc, "I'm just amazed by his stupidity."

Noodle laughed. "Yes, he can be like that. But you get used to it. Come I'll show you to the bathroom." Lihn didn't realize until now how filthy she'd become and the idea of a bathroom wasn't bad. She came around the jeep and allowed Noodle to take her hand and lead her away through a door.

Murdoc watched them go until the door closed behind them. "Rus, get him up. We got problems."

"what kind a problems?" he asked dragging 2-D from the jeep. "get his feet man, he's out, I think he choked down a handful of pain pills out there."

"Fuck me," Murdoc growled grabbing 2-D's feet and lifting him off the ground and shuffling in the direction of 2-D's room.

"so, what's the problem? Got something to do with that woman?" Russel asked "I seen you was being uncharacteristically nice to her."

"Yeah, watch yer step there, she gonna try to take our Noodle."

Russel caught 2-d just before his head hit the ground, "WHAT?"

"Hey, watch it, stupid, don't damage my front man!" He elbowed the door to 2-D's room open and began to drag him inside. "She musta seen her on the telli, or maybe when we was on tour. Now 'mommy's' found her girl and she's come to collect." they chucked 2-D's limp form on the bed.

"You sure bout this?" Russel asked turning 2-D over onto his side.

"No, I'm not sure." Murdoc groused, "she may be here to slap us with kidnapping charges!"

"But we didn't kidnap Noodle, she showed up on our step…"

"And we didn't look for er folks, or call the police, or do anything they'll say we should 'ave." Murdoc snapped.

Russel clamped his mouth shut. Then another thought occurred to him, "You think that's Noodle's Mom?" he raised an eyebrow in thought, "I guess they DO look alike, don't they?"

"I dunno," Murdoc sniffed, "All them look alike to me."

Russel turned a disapproving glare on him, "That's fucked up man."

Murdoc slapped him on the back, "come on, Russ, it's not like I was talking bout black people." he said patronizingly.

"That ain't the point," Russ said icily.

"You're right, the point is, how are we gonna get rid of our new headache?"

"You could try to sleep with her, that always scares women away." Murdoc cuffed the back of Russel's chuckling head as they left 2-D's room.


	2. Chapter 2 A Good Lie

** A good Lie**

Lihn found herself standing in a public bathroom. One of the florescent lights buzzed annoyingly as she looked in the large mirror over the sinks. "_Damn." _she was filthy. Her lab coat which had been white was now mud colored, with a splash of zombie goo here and there. She took it off and stuffed it in the trash can, _"good riddance." _The white, low cut blouse she'd been wearing beneath the coat wasn't so bad., only a small splash of mud, which was easily removed with a cantrip. She unbuttoned the top two buttons revealing some cleavage. _"Not bad." _The grey knee length skirt however had see better days. The hem of it was completely soaked with mud. After a moments thought, she watched the skirt shrink upward, the muddiness disappearing, of course now the style was wrong. Turning slowly to see herself, the skirt became snugger and small slit appeared on the right side. She pulled some paper towels from the dispenser and wetting them, scrubbed her face. It was then that she noticed she'd lost her glasses. "_O well," _she was tired of them anyway and it wasn't as though she needed them.

She stepped back to take a better look at herself and nearly slipped. _"Ugh." _her bare feet were covered in grime and she'd lost her shoes. She could simply conjure up a new pair but that would be hard to explain if anyone noticed. She grabbed more paper towels and scooted herself up onto the counter to get her feet in the sink. She was bent over her knees, scrubbing away at the dirt when Russel came in. "'scuse me, miss? Oh!" he quickly turned away from her blushing and Lihn realized that not only could he see down her shirt but also up her skirt. Feeling embarrassed herself, she hopped down from the counter, her freshly wet feet slipping on the tiles, and fell backward. She tried to catch herself on the counter and missed completely, smacking her elbow and her head on the way down.

"Oh my God!" Russel rushed to her side and bent to help her. Lihn stared up into his face. He was quite handsome, the pupil-less eyes did nothing to retract from it. Besides, Lihn had seen and dated, far worse than that in the past… It had been years since she'd felt this kind of girlish attraction and she felt herself blushing.

"Are you all right?" he was asking, "let me help you." He took her arm and helped her to a sitting position. The room spun a bit and Lihn clung to Russel's shoulder to steady herself. He turned his face toward hers to say something but the words died on his lips as he realized how awkwardly close they were to her lips. "Doumo." She half whispered looking into his eyes. They seemed to glow with an inner light. Lihn was fascinated by them but her scrutiny seemed to make Russel self conscious and he turned his face away from her, mumbling about getting her up off of the cold floor.

He helped her up, lifting her lithe form easily. He made to let go of her and she nearly swooned. Quickly, he slid an arm under her armpits supporting her. Frowning she put a hand to the back of her head and feeling a huge bump, winced. "C'mon, we better get you some ice for that bump." Russel said with concern. They left the bathroom and followed the hallway back to the buildings' lobby which she had passed through with Noodle on her way to the bathroom. But instead of going back the way they'd come, Russel steered her toward the lift and pushed the call button.

"Hey, Rus, where you running off to with our guest?" Murdoc had just stepped into the lobby and walked over to join them.

"She fell and hit her head. I's takin her up to the kitchen to get some ice." Rus explained.

The look of concern on Murdoc's face seemed genuine but Lihn (correctly) guessed it was because he was afraid of getting sued. "No blood no foul, as they say, right?" he chuckled half hearted as the lift doors opened.

The three of them piled into the elevator and Murdoc pushed the "1" button. Lihn's stomach lurched and she tried to remember what a concussion felt like.

"I'm 'fraid we 'avn't been prop'ly introduced." Murdoc said, apparently forgetting his introduction in the zombie field, and extended his hand, "Names Murdoc Niccals, and you've met Russel Hobbs." he nodded toward Rus.

Lihn tentatively shook his hand, "Lihn." she offered. He obviously hadn't caught it when she'd told him earlier.

"Lihn?" he seemed to purr her name, rolling it in his mouth like wine, "Pleased to meet you." his roving gaze was making her somewhat uncomfortable. The lift doors opened and they shuffled out. The door across from them led to a corridor with doors on either side. As they drew closer to the end of the hall Noodle emerged from the door on the right. "Dr. Lihn, what happened? Are you hurt?" she ran forward to take Lihn's hand.

"Ah, little, Noriko, I slipped and hit my head." They continued to have a conversation in Japanese and Murdoc shot Russel a look that said "See what I'm saying?" They all went through the door on the left into the kitchen and Russel lowered her into a folding chair that sat by a small table in the center of the room. Murdoc sat across from her while Russel busied himself making an icepack which he then handed to Lihn before leaning against the sink with his arms folded across his chest. Noodle rummaged in a cupboard before sitting on a chair on Lihn's right with a small box of Pocky. She offered one to Lihn who waved her hand in refusal and then one to Murdoc who accepted it absentmindedly.

"So, exactly how are you related to our Noodle?" Murdoc asked. Noodle's head shot up ad she choked on her Pocky, coughing and sputtering. Murdoc jumped up and began patting her on the back roughly, while Russel grabbed a juice box out of the fridge and tossed it to him. "You all right, Noods?" Murdoc asked clumsily shoving the straw into the box, "drink 'is, girly."

Noodle accepted the drink box and sucked it down greedily. When she felt she could safely speak again, she slammed the box on the table top and blurted out at Lihn, "You are my relation? Why did you not tell me? Why did you send me here? DID you send me here or have you been looking for me all this time? Why can't I remember anything before I was in the box?" The questions flew from the excited girls mouth and Lihn's mind raced as she tried to wrap it around the situation at hand.

They thought she was related to the girl? Apparently she didn't know her family and Lihn was wearing a Japanese face, she was speaking Japanese. Should she go with it? It was risky, she didn't know anything about these people. Would they be happy if she was, or relieved if she wasn't? She didn't have time to come up with a back round, she didn't have enough information about these people to make up something . On the other hand, she did need an excuse for being here, 'I just dropped out of thin air' didn't usually go over well, neither did, 'I'm from another time.' although that almost didn't apply here. She could fake injury related amnesia, she had just hit her head hadn't she?

They were all staring at her now. She had to say something, even if they couldn't understand her. Well, was she 'of the lamp' or not? She looked across the table at Murdoc. The idea of touching this man's mind repulsed her. She looked to her right at Russel, she _was _curious about him. Her eyes narrowed. Outside, time slowed too a stop, on the inside, in her mind, her soul, it sped up. She blinked and she was standing in a hallway. Doors lined the walls. Walls that went on in either direction for miles. She reached out her hand to the door knob in front of her, she pulled the door open and flung it wide. It was like looking in an open window. Or perhaps it was like looking into a large television screen. It was a first person view. She was on a stage, looking out over a crowd, they were cheering and hooting and she could see a sign that said 'Gorillaz Rock!'. And there was music. She glanced down at the drums she was playing then squinted through the lights and smoke on the stage. There was Murdoc, he was playing a bass guitar, at the other side of the stage was little Noodle she was playing guitar very well. Toward the front of the stage was the other man, she'd heard them call him 2-D, he was holding a microphone and tapping his foot with the music, but was not singing. The vocals she could hear seemed to be coming from behind her or above her.

She shut the door, cutting off the music and the cheering, she shook her head at the abrupt silence. _The Gorillaz. So they are musicians._This accounted for a lot. Lihn had known many musicians and everyone of them had their own brand of strangeness. It was either an occupational hazard or job requirement.

But what about the girl? Lihn moved to another door, or perhaps it moved toward her, she was never really sure. She pulled it open to the same effect, a large flickering window of memory. She was Russel walking into a room that she barley recognized as the lobby she'd walked through earlier. There was a large crate in the middle of the floor with FED-EX stamped on the side. "what's 'at?" she heard Russel's voice ask. "It's a package!' she heard a bright voice answer, and 2-D came into view, "I 'ad to sign for it, and every fink." he seemed proud of himself.

"Help me get it open, man." that was Murdoc's voice, sure enough there he was with a crow bar prying at the lid of the crate. "let me do it." Russel's voice said. It was like a video game, she watched as the box got closer, Russel's hand reached out and took the crow bar, wedged it between the lid and the top of the crate and pried.

"Did you hear some fink?" 2-D asked

"yeah, I hear stupid questions being asked, now shut up." that was Murdoc again. The nails came lose and with a great shove the top nearly exploded off the box. Out of the box leapt a little girl, guitar in hand. She somersaulted to the floor landing in an outrageous pose and started playing scales that would make Steve Via jealous. The men watched dumbfounded until she finished with a bow. Standing straight she reached into her pocket pulling out a scrap of newspaper and held it out towards Murdoc. He took it, snatching it from her hand, glanced at it and smiling broadly said, "I think we've found our new guitarist." Lihn shut the door on the scene. _So she literally showed up in the door step. _Little girl shows up, doesn't speak English and apparently they'd decided to keep her like a puppy that had followed them home. And Noodle said she didn't remember anything before she'd gotten there. Perhaps Lihn could pull this off, if she used her head and thought quickly.

"Who the Hell are you ?"Lihn spun at the sound of a angry voice. She was inside Russel's mind, who else could be here?

Rushing along the corridor coming towards her was a young man. He wore a sports jersey, Lihn wasn't sure which sport, she could never keep track of that sort of thing. And he was wearing a billed hat backwards over his dreadlocks. He looked somehow familiar and when he demanded again who she was the thick New York accent jogged her memory. _"The Ghost?" _

"I said who are you? What are you doin in here?" he was close enough she could make out his features. His eyes were purely white with an inner glow, just like Russel's, and his skin was cast with a blue hew, a stark difference against his black hair, it was almost cartoonish. She would have laughed if she'd met him somewhere else but being caught inside someone else's head was never a laughable situation. Especially when she was caught by a third party. He bore down on her angrily and shoved her against a door, the door knob dug painfully into her back but she didn't shove him away, her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

"Answer me bitch!," he gave her a shake, "What the fuck are you doing here?"She cocked her head to one side and stared back at him, "what are YOU doing here? You're not Russel."

"That ain't nunya business. You're the trespasser here, and you better come up with some answers."

Lihn thought quickly, she'd seen him talking to Murdoc earlier and she didn't want him telling anyone she'd been in here. It would take more explanation than she was willing to give. Better to knock him out now, she could find out more about him later. She narrowed her eyes and mustered up a good blast of energy that sent him sprawling to the floor. She took a moment to make sure he wouldn't remember this and went back to her own mind.

She opened her eyes back on the dingy kitchen and allowed time to start again. "Are you my mother, my aunt, my older sister? Do we have a large family, where are they?" Suddenly, Noodle took on an expression of anguish, "you're not here to take me away, are you?"

Lihn took the opening, "You don't want to be with your family?" She asked placing the ice pack on the table and leaning down a little to see Noodle's face clearly.

Noodle was quiet, she looked at her juice box, the straw dripped a little and she absently ran her finger through it. "I don't remember anything before I got here, except my name," she spoke slowly, "They took me in, they have cared for me, and I care for them, so, though I have often wondered about my real family, I already have a family here." She looked up at Russel and smiled, "and I do not wish to leave them."

Lihn leaned back in her chair and pretended to consider what the girl had said. Inside however, she was smiling, this was perfect! A lie formed I her mind, she turned it over a few times then spoke. "I am not your mother." she placed a hand over Noodle's. As she did, something sparked, something almost remembered but she pushed it aside and continued. "I'm your Aunt, on your mother's side. Your family disappeared a few years ago, I don't know what happened and I had given up hope of ever seeing any of you again. But some months ago I saw a picture in a store, of your band. I recognized you right away! After that I made inquiry's, I had to find you." she paused. Noodles face was impassive. She didn't look happy or sad, she just listened as Lihn spun off a story about how she came to be at Kong Studios. "But when I found you, you didn't recognize me. And, well, there were zombies, and running, and…" she trailed off with a shrug.

Noodle nodded slowly, a small crease formed on her forehead, "But, are you going to take me away?"

Lihn had to play it right, seem reluctant even though she wasn't. She looked at Murdoc across the table from her, he was eyeing her with some interest, unable to follow the conversation, he winked at her and flashed a devilish smile. Lin curled her lip in disgust and turned to look at Russel. His arms were folded across his chest as he leaned casually against the counter but his face was a mask of concern. He looked from Lihn to Noodle and back again, he raised an eyebrow questioningly. There was no doubt in her mind that these men cared for Noodle, the way they'd jumped into action when they thought she was choking was a pretty good sign, but Lihn knew that at first glance, no one would think it a good idea to leave a little girl in their care. And zombie infested garbage dumps certainly didn't make for a good environment for a child. "I have already left my job," she said aloud with pretend hesitation, "perhaps, I could stay and observe. If I see that you are indeed safe and well taken care of I may be persuaded to let you stay."

She barley finished what she was saying when Noodle leapt from her chair onto Lihn's lap and wrapped her in a great hug. "Yay!" she shouted. Lihn laughed and hugged her back. How long had it been since she'd hugged a child? Not in the past decade certainly. The only children she'd had contact with then, well, she certainly hadn't been hugging any of them. Lihn shook the dark thoughts from her head and squeezed Noodle tighter, a small tear slipping from her eye.

"Looks like a happy reunion." Russel said with a little smile.

"Makes me want to hurl." Murdoc snarl, "Look you," he directed at Lihn pointing his finger, "I'll have you know she's under contract, and she ain't goin no where."

"_Here's the fun part." _Lihn thought putting Noodle off her lap. "Why don't you go off to bed now and let me talk to your _brothers" _Lihn said to Noodle.

"Hai!" Noodle said, she ran around the table and gave Russel a hug, "Oyasuminasai, Onii!"

"G'nite little sister." Russel rumbled patting her on the back. She rushed over to Murdoc and quickly kissed his cheek, "Sayounara!" He took a swat at the girl, "Get outta here, you drunken midget." he replied. He half smiled as he watched her go. When the door to the kitchen shut he looked back at Lihn, "Now, as I was saying…"

"Your contract will never hold up in court, as Noodle is a minor and _Noodle _is not her real name." Lihn shot at him in perfect English, with only a hint of an accent.

"You speak English!" Russel accused her.

Murdoc stood up angrily, "Ere, what game are you playing at?"

"Child abduction is not a game, Mr. Niccals." she said picking up the ice pack and holding it to her head. She winced a little. She hated to accuse them knowing what she already knew, but she had to make it look good.

"we din't abduct nobody!" Russel said angrily.

"Then how did she get here?" Lihn demanded angrily, keeping up the ruse.

"She just showed up in a box." Russel shrugged throwing his hands wide.

"shut up Rus," Murdoc said out of the corner of his mouth, plopping back to his chair.

Lihn stood up dropping the ice pack back to the table, "In a box? As if she was ordered from a catalog?" Lihn's voice was incredulous.

"NO, she wasn't ordered, she just showed up, like someone sent her." Russel explained.

Russel, shut it!" Murdoc repeated uselessly.

"Even if I were to believe this, why did you not try to find out where she came from? Did you not think someone was missing her?" Lihn asked incredulously. "This is a little girl, not a puppy. Did you not think that she must have family?"

"We asked her bout all that, she din't remember nuthin." Russel shrugged.

"Russel!" Murdoc shouted coming out of his chair, "Do the words "you have the right to remain silent" mean anything to you?"

"I ain't got nuthin to hide, we ain't done nuthin wrong."

"As a matter of fact," Murdoc said dryly, "we may _have._The question is, what do you intend to do about it?" he looked at Lihn. "Because I'll tell you this, you ain't taken my axe princess, and that's final." he hissed leaning across the table. Russel nodded in agreement. "What you want? Money? We got that. A house? A car? It's yours. But you ain't taken our Noodle. And I want to see ID, birth certificates, whatever you got to prove you are who you say." his eyes bored holes into her own.

Lihn was impressed, if the girl really had been her kin, she'd be grateful that she found someone who so obviously cared for her. She made a mental note and a carry-on suitcase popped into existence somewhere out on the zombie infested grounds. "Gladly. But I lost my bag when I was fighting zombies." she shrugged, "so that will have to wait. For now you will just have to assume that I am telling the truth."

"Heh, I know what happens when people _assume_ but I suppose for the sake of anyone getting some sleep tonight, I'll let it go for now." He ran a hand over his face, suddenly looking tired.

"What _are _you going to do?" Russel asked Lihn.

Lihn regarded him with a thoughtful expression, "I came to find my niece. I do not suppose I had a plan after that. I was not sure what the situation would be when I found her. But I would like to make sure that she is happy and well cared for before I make a decision."

"Great," Murdoc cut in, "We can do all that tomorrow." He fished in his pocket and came out with a key ring. "The room next door on the right is open, er, room fifteen, sleep in 'ere, we'll deal with all this after some shut eye...and a drink." He tossed the keys to Lihn and left the kitchen grumbling.

"Is he always like that?" Lihn wondered allowed.

"Yep, pretty much, but you get used to it." He moved away from the counter he'd been leaning on, "Come on, the door to that room sticks real bad, I'll give ya a hand."

After finding the correct key, Russel manhandled the door and awkwardly excused himself for the night. Lihn felt around the wall looking for a switch. _CLICK _She may as well have left the light off. Room fifteen was painted grey, the tiles on the floor were either grey or very dirty. It wasn't overly small but it seemed as if it had been used for storage. Murdoc's referral to the room as 'empty' was somewhat misleading. It may have been devoid of people but it was definitely not empty.

There was definitely a bed under that pile of boxes and bags, and there seemed to be a dresser behind a stack of dry wall panels. A Christmas tree, complete with decorations was poking out of the closet and Lihn nearly fell in the large empty fish tank on the floor. Miscellaneous things were scattered, piled and leaned around the room. Another door was propped open by a cardboard box and she could make out a sink and toilet. Lihn heaved a sigh and scanned the room again. Shaking her head she levitated the debris off of the bed and unceremoniously dumped it on the pile of stuff on the other side of the room. Then she shook out the blanket and lay down to wait out the rest of the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**What now?**

When Lihn opened her eyes, it took her a moment to remember where she was. The dingy ceiling stared back at her as she thought about what had happened the night before. Her head was a little sore where she'd hit it the night before but the bump was already gone. She'd jumped dimensions too many times to count but she couldn't remember even one other time like this. Why had she only jumped a few years away from where she'd been? Usually, she end up in a completely different world. It certainly was a mystery.

She sat up in the dusty bed and sneezed. Why hadn't she at least given a different name? NoriLihn was exactly what she'd been trying to escape. There were only a few people she'd been that she was glad to forget and NoriLihn was one of them. She knew what she'd done was necessary but that didn't mean she'd enjoyed it. _"All those poor little girls, it wasn't their fault…"_she shook her head and made her way unsteadily across the room to bathroom. Flicking the light on didn't improve this room either, but Lihn wasn't in the mood to play human. She waved her hand in annoyance and the bathroom was spotless, complete with fluffy toilet paper and clean towels. A shower would do her a world of good.

The hot water felt good. Lihn stood under it, not even washing, just enjoying the heat. So she'd managed to acquire a niece. The little girl seemed totally convinced but it was her _brothers_ she needed to impress. Of course, she could always just move on, or try to make another jump but she was intrigued. Maybe there was a reason she ended up here, it had happened before. But even if there wasn't, musicians always proved to be interesting. Besides, that Russel wasn't half bad looking AND he had someone in his head that wasn't him. This place could be very interesting.

"Obachan!" Lihn's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Noodle's voice. "Obachan, come to breakfast. Russel is cooking so it will be good!"

Lihn sighed, "I'll be right there, just let me finished washing."

"Oh, yes! Your bag was found as well. I brought it in the room. See you in the kitchen!" Lihn heard the door bang shut. She supposed she could at least have breakfast before decided weather or not to stay. She washed quickly emerging from the bathroom naked, letting the air dry her skin. Stepping over various objects, she grabbed up the black leather bag Noodle had left on the floor and dropped it on the bed. It looked as though someone had gone through it, as she'd expected. She opened it finding all the sorts of things you'd expect to find in an overnight bag. She pulled out some under clothes and another skirt and blouse similar to the ones she'd been wearing the day before. After dressing, she checked the pockets on the bag making sure the proper papers had actually incarnated.

"_There they are." _she pulled out pictures of a little girl that HAD to be Noodle, and of course, one of the two of them together, and here was a newspaper clipping about a missing family. It was Japanese but Noodle would be able to read it.

And there in another pocket was a wallet, complete with an I.D. , credit cards, and _"why is that here?"_it was her I.D. badge from the Lab. She didn't want to think about that place. Lihn shoved the badge down in the bag, grabbed the pictures and after wrestling with the door a bit, headed for the kitchen.

Lihn walked into the room to the sounds of laughter and the smell of pancakes and sausage. Russel was at the stove and Noodle and the blue haired man, 2-D were at the table. "Oh no! Don't eat me, little girl! I'm just a little sausage. Argh!" 2-D was waving a sausage on the end of a fork and Noodle was trying to snatch it from him.

It was a moment before anyone noticed she'd come in, then Russel turned with a plate full of pancakes. "Well, I got mine, what you all gonna eat?" he laughed. "Oh! Good morning. Sit down, have something to eat." Russel gestured to the plates on the table and Lihn sat down. "Thanks."

"Ohayou, Obachan" Noodle said and when 2-D looked toward Lihn, she snatched the fork from him and took a large bite from the sausage.

"Hey! Little sneak." he chuckled then turned back to Lihn. "I don't think we've met. I'm 2-D" he gave a little wave. There were large dark bruises round both his eyes making it difficult to tell what he was looking at, but Lihn was sure he was checking her out. She tried not to grin as she spoke, "My name is Lihn. I am kin to your Noodle." She took a plate and began eating.

"You can speak _English ?_" Noodle asked surprised.

"Hai. I worked with people from many countries and _English_ was the common language we often used." she replied in Japanese.

"You're related to Noodle?" 2-D asked, "I should've guessed, you look just alike! Don' 'ey, Rus?" he was looking back and forth between them, but Russel only had eyes for Lihn.

"Yea, they do. Both of 'ems cute as buttons." he winked at Lihn before turning back to his plate.

Lihn couldn't help grinning this time. Her decision was becoming easier to make by the minute.

"What did you do at your job? Are you a doctor?" Noodle cut in.

Lihn switched back to Japanese, "Well, yes, but probably not the kind you are thinking of. I am a biophysicist, a scientist." why was it getting harder to leave her past behind?

"Biophysicists work with DNA and stuff, right? 2-D and I watched a movie about a scientist that made a clone and it escaped. Do you know anything about cloning? I saw people on the news talking about it, they think it should be illegal, what do you think?" Noodle asked a startled Lihn.

"Um, yes, well…I." she cleared her throat, "It is a difficult subject, is it not?" Noodle seemed about to unload more questions so Lihn cut her off. "I almost forgot." She said brightly, "I thought you might like to see these." She put the pictures on the table within Noodle's reach. "Baby pictures." she explained to 2-d and Russel. Noodle's expression was thoughtful as she went through the pictures.

"There are no pictures of my parents?" she half stated, half asked as she passed the pictures to 2-D.

"No. Most of the pictures were sent to me by your mother, and the one of the two of us was taken when I came to visit when you were four." Lihn lied. After so many years, lying was easy. "I'm sorry."

Noodle looked sad for a moment then her face brightened, "No matter. It is hard to miss someone you do not remember." Lihn smiled at her but her heart tugged in her chest. She knew too well that it wasn't hard at all. "When you've finished eating, I will show you around. You will love it!"

Lihn had to admit, Kong Studios was pretty impressive. The first thing Lihn noticed was that it was Huge. The second thing she noticed were the people. There were people in almost every room. They just seemed to hang around. _They must be real celebrities to have all these hangers on._Lihn thought. Some of them were very strange, but Lihn reminded herself that these were just the sort of people good musicians seemed to attract. Noodle seemed to ignore most of them as she gave her tour.

There was, of course, a full recording studio on the ground floor. Lihn had spent plenty of time in recording studios, under a different name in a different place, but she knew her way around the equipment pretty well. Noodle was pleasantly surprised and said that they should work on some music together. Noodle then played some of the bands music for Lihn and she had to admit, she really liked it. Next, Noodle took Lihn into the cinema. It was a real cinema with the big screen and projector reels and the fold down seats and all. There was also a bowling alley. Lihn had heard of the game and seen it played, but had never actually played before. She tried to play a game with Noodle but found that she was terrible at it. Noodle tried to be encouraging but after the fifteenth gutter ball even her optimism was wearing thin. On the other end of the building was a shooting range which they spent a hours in trying to outshoot each other. This was a sport Lihn could get into, she'd had plenty of practice with guns of all types and Noodle was a great shot as well. They finally ended up calling a draw when they realized it was past lunch time.

Noodle led Lihn through Kong to a café. They had a lunch of ramen and beef and Noodle went on about life at Kong Studios. It definitely didn't seem dull and the more she spoke, the more Lihn adored the girl. She was quite intelligent for her age, had a wonderful sense of humor, and had a streak of independence that reminded Lihn of herself.

After lunch, they wandered the halls, Noodle giving brief descriptions of what lay behind each door. Noodle was good company. Better than most of the adults Lihn'd been around for the past decade. Finally they wandered into a large T.V. room where they found 2-D napping on a couch in front of an old black and white movie. Noodle snatched up the remote, plopped into a chair and started flipping through stations when the door opened.

"Where's Rus? I got big news!" it was Murdoc. He was barefooted and bare-chested, had a lit cigarette between to fingers on his right hand, a bottle of something strong smelling in his left, and was grinning from ear to ear.

"Huh, What?" 2-D sat up and looked around. "Oh, it's you Murdoc. What are you doing up so early?" he patted his pockets looking for a cigarette.

The grin melted off Murdoc's face, "It's Six o'clock, Spike head, been taking double doses again, 'ave you? Sleepin' all day while ole Muds is workin'?" Noodle tried to stifle a chuckle.

"You workin? Hell must be freezing over!" Russel walked in the room past Murdoc and plopped into a chair. "Heard you was lookin fer me."

Murdoc's 'go to hell' look quickly changed to one of self importance. "Yes, While you lot was screwin' about all day, I was talkin to a movie producer." he paused waiting for the gasps of surprise that didn't come. Everyone simply looked at him waiting for him to continue. Lihn was quite amused by the look of disappointment on his face. "Anyway, This producer wants to make a movie about MY bad! I mean OUR band, of course. Gorillaz, The rise to Success, and all that. So, who's up fer a trip state side?" he clapped is hands and rubbed them together looking at the others expectantly.

"You serious? Did you sign us up fer something without talkin to any of us? Again?" Russel asked angrily leaning forward in his seat..

"No, No, mate, nothing like that." Murdoc waved his hands placating, "We just go meet this guy and talk to him. Nuthin's set in stone yet. We'll fly over to Cali 'ave a chat wif the producer and see what's up." he turned his eyes to everyone in the room looking for their excited approval but his eyes fell upon Lihn they narrowed, "oh, yea." he said mostly under his breath, as if he just remembered her existence. "I'm sure you're all eager to start packin', we're leavin' day after tomorrow. You," He said pointing at Lihn, "We need to have a chat."

Lihn slid from the arm of Noodle's chair and gave her a wink, "I'll be back." She grinned and followed Murdoc out of the room. He didn't say anything as he led her to the car park. Lihn followed curiously until he flung open the door of his Winnebago, then she paused uncertainly. "You comin' or not?" he asked from inside. Lihn took a deep breath and pulled herself up into the motor home. The inside was pretty much like any motor home she'd ever seen. A bench-like couch, a chair, a small table, a countertop and cupboards, a small stove and fridge all cramped into a small space. She could see a large bed at the back of the vehicle, past what she assumed was the bathroom and maybe a closet. There were animal skins on the floor and pictures and posters covered every available space. The front of the Winni had two captains chairs, the passenger seat was turned around, the second chair at the small table. Looking up she saw a television. The picture was split into four screens that changed every minute to show a different room in the studio building.

Murdoc was leaning into the fridge, "Beer?" he didn't wait for an answer, tossing one to Lihn. Her hand flicked out and caught it, "Nice catch." he said raising a eyebrow. He looked at her as if he were appraising her. The moment lasted just long enough to begin making Lihn uncomfortable, then he took a breath and look her in the face, "Welcome to me abode. 'Ave a seat." He sprawled on the sofa and took a pull of his beer.

Lihn eyed the couch beside him then gingerly sat in the chair by the small table and looked her bottle. She didn't recognize the brand but she twisted off the cap and took an experimental drink. "Not bad."

"No cheap swill for Murdoc Niccals." He shifted on his seat, "Now to business. Question one, Why 're you 'ere?"

"I told you, I was seeking my niece." she took another drink.

"Yea, but why? She musta been gone, three, four years and you just pop up now?" His tone was casual but there was something in is eyes that was almost threatening.

Lihn took a sip from her bottle. "I wanted to find Noriko, er, Noodle, from the beginning. But I didn't know where to look, and my job didn't allow for much free time." Lihn's eyes arrowed at the thought of her 'last job' and she took another drink before continuing. "But then, a few months ago, I saw a poster promoting your band. I recognized her right away. I asked some questions, did some research and found Kong Studios. I got on a plane and here I am." she shrugged.

"Why"d you pretend you couldn't speak English?" he shot at her.

Lihn was ready for this one, she managed to look sheepish, "I wasn't really pretending. I was frightened and I was not paying attention. It is hard to find the words when my mind is scattered." she gave an embarrassed grin. Murdoc stared at her hard as if he could suck truth out of her eyes. After a moment, he relaxed.

"So you've come to save your niece from the big bad rock stars, 'ave you? Or perhaps to save her bank roll?" he growled this last sentence and took another swig from his bottle.

Lihn laughed, "You think I'm a fraud looking for free money?" Lihn chuckled again, "Mr. Niccals, I was the top Biophysicist in acompany that received _large _grants from the government. Money is NOT an issue with me." she leveled her eyes with his, "AND, I find 'big, bad rock stars' to be VERY interesting." she gave him a flirtatious grin tough she hoped fervently that he wouldn't take her _too_ seriously.

He smiled and visibly relaxed, "What about papers, proof? You are who you are, that sort of fing?"

She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out the pictures and few papers she had. "It's not a lot, and it's all in Japanese, but there you are." she leaned forward and handed it to him. He made a show of looking through them tough she knew he couldn't read any of it. He spent more time on the pictures, looking closely at the fronts and the backs as if he would find a label that said "fake picture".

Finally, he seemed satisfied and handed them back with a grunt. "So, what now? If you aren't planning to take her away, what _are_ you planning."

_ What AM I planning? _she thought to herself, "I do not know." she said quietly, looking at her hands. "I am tired of being alone." she said honestly. "It would be nice to have a family again." she looked back into his face. "I'd like to stay here. If that is all right. At least for a while."

Murdoc scrunched his face in thought, "I dunno, 'nother mouth to feed, course, I did see you inna studio this morning'. You _could_ be useful. _Or_you could be inna way. Hmmm." Abruptly, he stood and crossed to the door, opening it. Lihn stood surprised. "You may wanna go shopping. You ain't goin' to L.A. in THAT."

Lihn smiled hugely, "Thank you." she stepped out of the Winnebago and turned to say something more but Murdoc cut her off just before he slammed the door.

"You're paying for own ticket!"


	4. Chapter 4 Cake and Memories

_Autor's note: I think this chapter is a bit shorter than the others. I'm not completely happy with it, Let me know what you think. Thanks!_

Cake and Memories

Lihn woke up. Something wasn't right. She looked around her room. It wasn't the dirty cluttered room at Kong, she used a trick she'd learned from a wizard ages ago, it was a dimensional thing that allowed her to access a house she owned in a different space and time. It was handy for times like this, but of course, if anyone popped in to check on her, it would be hard to explain how a five by ten room had turned into a spacious master suite with a large four post bed, a mirrored ceiling, a walk in closet you could park cars in, and a huge window overlooking a private beach of orange sand, waves the wrong shade of green, and a dark sky with stars the size of golf balls.

There it was again, that feeling of unease that had wakened her. There was a strange tug in the pit of her stomach and she felt the need to get up, to go make sure everything was all right.

Lihn slipped out of bed and pulled on a yellow silken robe. It had been a gift from someone important, but she couldn't remember exactly who anymore. This thought flitted through her mind as she crossed the large room to the door. It seemed as though the door should open onto empty space outside the house, but when she pulled it, there was the hallway in Kong Studios, the right hand leading to the lobby, the left, toward the kitchen and Noodle's room. It was to the from the later that she heard the shout. _"Noodle?"_ she hurried down the hall but paused at the door. Hesitantly she knocked. "Russel?"

Lihn turned the knob and opened the door enough to look in, "No, It's me, are you all right?" It was a descent sized room, it definitely belonged to a child, there were toys and games strewn about the room. Lihn could see the outline of the paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. The light from the hall fell on a guitar leaning against the end of the bed and Noodle's face glaring at her. Lihn was shocked at the ferocity of the glare, "I can get Russel for you." she said turning to leave.

"Wait!" Lihn turned to find the glare replaced by confusion and unease. "Come in, please." Noodle leaned over and turned on a small lamp. A puppy lying on the end of the bed looked up sleepily, glanced at Lihn without interest and lay his head back down. Lihn shut the door behind her and made her way across the room to sit on the bed beside Noodle.

"Are you all right?" Lihn asked cautiously. The preteen girl seemed ready to either fight or flee at any moment.

"I believe so." she said staring at her hands in her lap. Lihn waited for her to continue. When, after several seconds she didn't, Lihn asked, "Are you sure?" but at the same time, Noodle blurted out, "I know who you are!"

"What?" Lihn tried to keep the shock off of her face but wasn't sure she succeeded.

"Or rather, who you are not." Noodle looked Lihn in the face, her eyes full of accusation.

Lihn had her facial features under control now, "What do you mean?" she attempted to sound nonchalant.

Noodle slipped her hand under her pillow and took out the pictures Lihn had given her earlier that evening. She looked through them slowly, "I don't know how you did this, but you are NOT my mother's sister. In fact, you are not my aunt at all." she tossed the pictures aside with disgust.

Lihn's heart was pounding in her chest. In … well she wasn't sure how old she was anymore, but In all of those years, no one had figured her out this quickly. She kept her face and voice neutral, raising an eyebrow as she asked, "What makes you say that?"

"I remember." she looked away, seeming embarrassed, "well, sort of. They are dreams," she looked back in Lihn's face, "But they are more then that." she insisted, "They are memories." Her small hands clenched in fists.

"And, I am in these dreams?" Lihn asked incredulously. Her heart began to calm down. She hadn't been found out, the girl was having strange dreams. No doubt a by-product of living in such a strange place.

"Not dreams!" she said vehemently. "Memories! And yes you are in them." A look of confusion and apprehension crossed her face, "And you are someone to be feared." she almost whispered. Lihn's spine iced over at the truth in those words. _"NO!"_ her eyes searched Noodle's face intently, _"I got them all. I can't have missed one."_ she struggled to keep her breathing under control, no she was being ridiculous. She shook the unwanted thoughts from her head. "What is the matter?" Noodle asked breathlessly, leaning away from Lihn.

The woman forced herself to smile and reached out to brush the girl's cheek. "You had a nightmare. That is all. Relax, try to get some sleep." she stood to leave the room.

"No." Noodle said, "It was not a nightmare."

Lihn studied the girls face a moment, then whispered, "Do you want me to leave?"

Noodle stared at her, the inner struggle evident in her eyes. "No. whether you are here to harm me or not, you are the only link I have to my past." she leaned her head to one side, her expression making her seem older, "We will keep up the charade for my brother's sake. But I WILL figure you out, Miss Lihn. Have no doubt."

Lihn stared at the girl curiously for a few more seconds then left the room shaking her head. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it. _"I should've known, you look just alike!" _she heard 2-D's voice in her head. No, that was impossible. _"It's just a stereotype. They think all Japanese people look alike." _Still, that was too close for she should just phase out. The novelty of hanging out with musicians was quickly losing it's appeal.

She had pretty much made up her mind and was heading toward her room when Russel came through the doors at the opposite end of the hallway. He paused when he saw her, seemed to be having some inner struggle but then continued on toward her, a ghost of a grin on his face. "Everythin' o.k.?" he asked as he drew closer.

"Yes," she lied, "Noodle just had a night mare." his eyes tore away from Lihn's chest and went immediately to Noodle's door filled with concern. "She's fine now!" Lihn said hurriedly, not wanting him to investigate. Inconspicuously, she loosened her robe, allowing the neck line to reveal more, hoping to distract him. "Why are you up? Are YOU all right?" she asked bringing his attention back to her.

He seemed to behaving trouble making his mouth work, "I, uh, -_ahem_, I was heading to the kitchen." he rubbed a hand on the back of his neck, "You know, fer a snack." Lihn grinned at his awkwardness, "You wouldn't want to join me, would you?" And suddenly, the appeal was back. She would figure out that whole Noodle situation later. "_Hai._ I mean, Yes, that would be nice." She smiled at him and turned toward the kitchen.

Lihn sat at the table while Russel busied himself with plates, flatware and glasses. He seemed to be having a muttered conversation with himself but she couldn't make out what he was saying. He turned to the table with a couple glasses of milk and two enormous slices of chocolate cake with white icing, one of Lihn's favorites from this dimension, and sat in the chair next to her. Lihn took a small bite of the cake and Russel cleared his throat, "So. Is your room o.k.? I could help you clear it out or whateva." he took a large bite trying to cover his nervousness.

"It is fine, thank you." she grinned knowingly to herself, of course, it was more than fine!

He nodded still chewing. When he swallowed he wiped his mouth before asking, "So you'll be joining us in L.A., right?"

"Oh, yes. Mr. Niccals has graciously given me permission to accompany you, as long as I 'pay my own way' as they say" she giggled girlishly.

"Yeah, that sounds like Muds." Russel grinned. "I'm surprised he didn't charge you extra for his company." he laughed.

"Shh, don't give him any ideas!" Lihn laughed back.

Russel gave his attention back to the cake for a moment before saying, "I wasn't really looking forward to this trip, but maybe it won't be so bad after all." he grinned at her.

Lihn had the decency to blush as she answered, "Perhaps not." They ate in silence for a few minutes, Lihn stealing glances at Russel from the corner of her eye. She was utterly fascinated by him. His eyes were amazing. She noticed again how they seemed to glow from within. And the fact that she had seen someone else in his head made him even more interesting. Did Russel know he was there? How did he get there? Who was he? And how could she find out?

Russel cleared his throat, tearing her from her thoughts. She hadn't realized that she'd been leaning closer to him, unconsciously trying to get a better look at him. He was looking into her eyes, a trickle of sweat ran down the side of his face and she realized that by the way she was leaning and looking up at him with a small smile on her lips, it must seem as if she were trying to seduce him.

She dropped her fork with a loud clatter, causing them both to jump. "Oh! Excuse me." She said.

"No, let me." they leaned down at the same time to grab the fork and smacked heads. They both jerked back upright, softly cursing in two languages.

"Sorry." They said at the some time, making them both grin. "I'll just get you another" Russel said starting to get up.

"No, that is all right." Lihn replied running a finger through the icing and sucking it off, inwardly delighted by the way Russel watched her. "I think perhaps, I should go back to bed."

"Oh, O.k." he said as he watched her drain her milk, disappointment dripping from his voice.

Lihn stood and touched his shoulder gently, "Thank you." she briefly considered kissing his cheek, but quickly turned and left the room. The last decades of her life were spent in such seriousness, it was fun to have the chance to be flirtatious. But she had to watch herself, being flirtatious was one thing but throwing herself at someone was quite another. Lihn climbed into bed and fell asleep quickly, the 'Noodle situation' almost completely forgotten.

Almost.

Lihn saw herself back in Japan, in an unfamiliar apartment. The furniture was thrown about the room, some of it burned and broken. There were scorch marks on the walls and in some places they were beginning to burn too. A thin fog of smoke was beginning to cloud her vision.

There! A whimper from behind the paper partition. Her hand tingled from the fire that she built up, ready to hurl at her target. Slowly, quietly, she approached the partition and slid it open with her free hand. It was a bedroom, definitely for a little girl. Frilly pink curtains hid the small window. A matching bedspread covered the bed. The walls had 'Hello Kitty' painted on them.

Lihn's eyes scanned the dim room, her ears strained to hear any small sound. Under the bed. She crept forward until she could reach the end of it. With a move so fast it was barley seen, she grabbed the corner of the bed and flipped it, sending it crashing into the wall. The small figure curled against itself and screamed. Lihn raised her flaming hand to strike and the little girl looked up into her eyes, it's face a mask of fear and betrayal.

Lihn sat straight up in her bed, clinging to the blankets, sweat coated her body and her heart threatened to burst through her chest. She slid out of the bed and crossed to large window, laying her head on the cool glass. She stared out at the deep green waves and watched the lime colored foam smash onto the sand. She stood there until the sky turned a light purple with the morning sun, trying to erase Noodle's agonized face from her memory.


	5. Chapter 5

note from auther: Sorry this took so long! Too many real life hassles got in the way. And just to apologise in advance, the 'H' and 'N' buttons on my keyboard hate me, so they may be missing in a few places. I proof read,but I have 'mommy brain' so I may have missed some things. Enjoy the chapter!

A Night of Firsts

L.A. was beautiful. Not just the ocean and the sky, but the buildings, the cars, the people, everything! Lihn had spent two days site-seeing with Noodle and the others. The Tea House, the Walk of Fame, shopping on Rodeo drive, it all went by too quickly. A camera was passed back and forth many times, catching scenery and silly antics. They took turns posing in front of the Hollywood Sign, tried on different outfits in expensive stores till they got thrown out of several. They ate in expensive restaurants, much to the annoyance of the staff. It was the first vacation Lihn had been on in decades and she was having a grand time.

Through it all, Noodle was true to her word, pretending nothing out of the ordinary had passed between them. She acted so well, and there was so much distraction, that Lihn began to feel as if it had never happened. Noodle gripped her hand excitedly as they walked the walk of Fame. They picked out clothes for each other, shared desserts, and laughed often. Lihn very much enjoyed being part of a family again. Russel and 2-D welcomed her easily into their group, playing little pranks on her and joking around as if they'd known each other well. Murdoc griped at her and teased her just as much as he did the others, so, she figured that meant he liked her too.

She only felt a little awkward when they were approached by adoring fans. She had spent the last couple decades as a nerdy recluse. She'd had no idea who the Gorillaz were until she'd shown up on their doorstep. It only made her feel even more like the odd one out. She would willingly produce pens and snap pictures for the overzealous fans, if only to make them leave quicker. So, as much fun as they were having, Lihn was glad to go back to the condo, that had been rented for their stay, that evening.

They toted their shopping bags inside and plopped onto various pieces of overstuffed furniture. Fun was exhausting! 2-D plucked a remote from the coffee table, and propping his Converse clad feet on it, began to flip through TV stations. Noodle dug through a bag of candy she'd purchased and Russel selected an éclair from the box of pastries he'd bought, cursing under his breath when he dripped dream on his new, blue shirt.

Murdoc sat in the chair that flanked the couch, lit a cigarette and exhaled noisily, "Grab me a cold one out the fridge, Luv." he said to Lihn as she walked toward the kitchen.

Lihn went to the sink and splashed some cold water on her face. She was feeling much more tired than she was used too, probably due to the fact that she hadn't walked that much in years. Teleporting was so much easier. She dried her face and hands on a dish towel before opening the fridge. The top shelf had a gallon of milk, a jug of fruit punch, some orange juice, and some juice boxes. The middle shelf had eggs, various cold cuts, pudding cups and fruit, things you'd see in any refrigerator, but the bottom shelf was packed with bottles of beer. It had to have been at Murdoc's request, though it wasn't his usual brand. "_Maybe they can't get it stateside."_ Lihn thought. She grabbed two green bottles and headed back toward the living room.

Murdoc was just hanging up his cell phone when she passed his chair, slipping his unopened beer between the back of the chair and his back. "Argh!" he twisted round in the seat to pull the cold bottle away from his thinly covered skin.

"You said you wanted a cold one, is it cold enough?" she asked innocently before the grin cracked her face. Russel and 2-D laughed appreciatively at her joke. Noodle was already dozing on her corner of the couch.

"yea, hilarious." Murdoc replied opening the bottle and taking a swallow. "Well, bad news chaps, our appointments' been rescheduled."

"Rescheduled? For when?" Russel asked sounding almost whiney.

"Yea, Murdoc, when we gonna meet this producer?" 2-D asked.

"Eleven A.M., Monday." Murdoc said carefully not looking at either of them, taking a deeper drink of his beer.

"Aww, Man!" Russel tossed his pastry box down, obviously not pleased.

"But Murdoc, today's Tuesday!" 2-D exclaimed. "What we supposed to do fer a week?"

"Yer a bloody rock star. In L.A., with money burnin' a hole in yer pocket! You dun think ya can find _somethin'_ to do?" Murdoc replied exasperated.

" 'at ain't the point, Muds, we should be workin'. Writin' new songs or something'" Russel leaned forward in his chair.

Lihn leaned against the wall sipping her beer. This was their business, it had nothing to do with her. She glanced over at Noodle, the sweets spilled from her hand as she tried to get more comfortable in her sleep.

Lihn pushed off the wall, ignoring the arguing males, and set her beer on the coffee table, bending to pick up the sweets. She set the not-quite-so-full bag beside her beer. She hated to wake Noodle, but even though she was rather short for her age, Lihn wouldn't be able to carry her upstairs. Gently she shook the little guitarists shoulder, "Noodle? Noodle-Chan, wake up."

Noodle's head turned toward her and her eyes fluttered. Suddenly she sat straight up, screaming. Lihn put a hand on her, "What's wrong?" But Noodle shook her hand off and tried to scoot away.

Suddenly, Russel was there, pushing Lihn aside, causing her to land on her rump. "Noods! What's a matter, girl? It's all right, I'm here. It was just a dream." The girl calmed down, recognizing her big brother, who continued to make soothing statements and pat her hand. He helped her to her feet and walked the exhausted girl up the stairs to her room.

Lihn pulled herself from the floor and looked around the room embarrassed. Murdoc and 2-D were both on their feet, looking at her. She knew why Noodle had been screaming, what the girl had been dreaming about. Lihn had been able to stop thinking about it for a few days, but now it was back in the forefront of her mind. Images she wanted to forget were flashing behind her eyes like a slideshow.

She grabbed her beer from the table, knocking the sweets back to the floor, and hurried out of the double glass doors that led to the patio and pool out back, sliding the door closed behind her. She crossed to the darkest corner of the concrete porch and sat in a chair. She pulled her knees up to her chest and began gulping her beer, wishing she'd grabbed another, or maybe two.

"_What are you saying, Samir?" her voice was full of dread._

"_They have stolen your DNA, they are using your research and they are making clones for the government." the Hindu man replied._

"_Why MY DNA?" she asked suspiciously, shakily, standing up._

"_It is my fault," his voice and face were full of grief._

"_What!"_

"_We have known each other for years, Lihn, I…I have noticed things…" he was wringing his hands, "I was talking to Mr. Kochi at the company party last year, or maybe it was the year before?" Lihn hissed between her teeth. "I was drinking," he continued, "I did not mean to tell him. It just came out. They have been watching you since."_

"_Why didn't you talk to me?" Lihn asked "Samir, I would have told you everything!" she put a hand on the side of the handsome man's face making him look up at her. "Don't you trust me?"_

_Samir looked at his feet, "I should have. At first I was afraid, but after knowing you, I should have trusted you." he stood and took both of her hands into his, "I am sorry, Lihn. I do not ask forgiveness, but you must leave. Hide somewhere. They will be coming for you now."_

"_Do you know where they are conducting the experiments?" she asked urgently. _

"_Yes, why?" he asked._

"_They are making an army, Samir. An army of me. I do not have time to explain now, but trust me when I say that is very bad." she took a notebook and pen from her pocket, pressing it into his hand. "Where are they?"_

_He wrote an address on the paper and handed the book and pen back to her. "What will you do?" there was a tinge of fear in his voice._

_She tucked the notebook back into the pocket of her lab coat and turned away. "I must destroy the clones, before they can become a threat."_

"_But, Lihn!" he changed his mind about what he was going to say when she turned to him, "I am sorry." he said quietly instead._

"_Me too." She said just as softly._

"_Why are you sorry?" _

"_For not doing this sooner." She put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him. He slid his arms around her and held on, but it wasn't long before she pulled away. "Sayonara." she said, stepping away, her lab coat fluttering out as she turned. _

"_Will I see you again?" the other scientist asked. _

"_No." she said without turning back._

Lihn couldn't stop the memories from coming. The screams, the pain, the utter disgust at herself. _"I did it because I had to! There was no choice." _she reminded herself. But that didn't make her any less of a monster. She could feel tears forming at the corners of her eyes. _"What am I doing?" _she berated herself, wiping at the tears with one hand and tipping the bottle up with the other. _"I've been playing human too long."_ she thought, which was ridiculous, whatever she was now, or had been in the past, she'd been _born_ a human. She drained the last of the beer from her bottle, chucking the empty glass into the grass beside the patio, she'd get it tomorrow. If she was still here.

A shadow fell across the concrete and the sliding glass door opened. Out of the corner

of her eye she saw 2-D step through and turn to beckon to Murdoc, who stepped through

apprehensively. They walked a little closer to Lihn, "Are you all right, Luv?" she just

shrugged her shoulders in response, not really wanting to talk. "Don' take it pers'nal.

Noodle's been 'avin bad dreams fer while now. S'always Russ wot calms her down." he

explained. Lihn didn't respond, _of course._ They thought she was upset because she

couldn't calm her 'niece's' fears. 2-D elbowed Murdoc in the ribs, making him jump. He

growled at 'D threateningly, but walked to stand beside Lihn, putting his

hand on her shoulder hesitantly, "Brung ya a fresh one." he said presenting her with a

beer. She looked up at him, distractedly, then at the beer in his hand. "Origato." she

thanked him quietly, taking the proffered bottle, twisting off the cap and drinking deeply.

Murdoc stood beside her for a moment, impressed at her ability to swill, yet feeling

awkward.

"Right." he said suddenly, giving her shoulder a pat. "Well, you kids have fun. I'm'a step out an' find some action" he pulled a cigarette from it's pack in his shirt pocket and lit it, "Don' wait up!" he said as he walked toward the door, shouldering 2-D hard on his way past. 'D rubbed is arm where Murdoc's shoulder had hit him and watched as the older man closed the door behind him.

2-D cleared his throat, feeling out of his element. "So." he started. Lihn didn't turn her head to look at him. "You, um, you gon' be ok?"

"How can I ever be ok again?" Lihn mumbled to herself, barely audible to the others ears, as she chucked the empty bottle in the grass. So it seemed the curse had already caught up to her again. Or perhaps, she had never managed to shake it.

2-D was about to speak again when the door slid open, "Yo, 'D, what's up?" Russel inquired. 2-D stepped closer to Russ and hurriedly whispered what he had assumed the problem was. "Hmmm. I got this, man. Go on inside." He glanced at Lihn and said to 2-D, "Grab me a couple beers, though." The younger man nodded emphatically, looking relieved. Russel patted him on the back as he stepped outside, letting 'D go past.

After receiving the bottles, Russel grabbed a wicker chair and carried it with him, putting it down right next to Lihn. He sat in the chair and nudged her with his elbow. She looked at him, blankly at first, then focusing on the present. "Here" Russel opened a bottle and handed it to her.

"I am drinking too much." Lin said dully, taking a more conservative drink.

"Everybody needs to let go once in a while." He grinned at her. Lihn sighed hugely, tears threatening her eyes again. "Noodle's ok now." Russel said quietly, trying to look into Lihn's face. "She has these nightmares sometimes. She was probably just confused when she woke up, Din't recognize you."

Lihn scoffed in disbelief but caught herself and tried to turn it into a cough. "You are probably right." she said. "She has not seen me in a long time." she was starting to think that that statement wasn't a lie. "And I was not around that much anyway." she continued with what she suspected he was thinking.

"Yea, Murdoc said you was some kind of scientist. Busy work?" Russ tried changing the subject to take her mind off of Noodle.

"Not anymore." Lihn said vehemently. She took a drink to calm herself, "I mean, I quit. They would not allow me time to search for Noodle, but I would not be stopped." This was sort of true, Lihn guessed.

"Damn, that sucks." Russel empathized, "How long'd you work there?"

"A long time." Lihn replied not wanting to show her age. If she told him she'd been there thirty years, she have to be near fifty years old, and she certainly didn't look fifty!

Lihn stared off into the pool's water remembering some of those years.

The large man beside her put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. "You all right?" his voice sounded genuinely concerned.

Lihn slid her feet off the chair and sighed. "I've been having nightmares of my own." she said almost to herself, taking another deep draught.

"Trouble sleepin' eh? I got just the thing fer that." he slouched in his chair so that he could reach into the pocket of his denim shorts and pulled out a small plastic baggie with what looked like home rolled cigarettes. He pulled one out, stuck it between his lips and rolled the baggie backup, tucking it back in his pocket. He sat back up in the chair and held up a lighter, puffing the 'cigarette' to life. Once lit, he tucked away the lighter and took a deep drag, then offered it to Lihn holding his breath.

The otherworlder eyed it suspiciously, wrinkling her nose at the odor. "What is it?" she asked, putting her beer on the ground by her feet. Russel blew his breath out shocked, nearly choking. "Seriously?" he eyed her as if she were pulling his leg. "It's weed." catching her blank stare, he tried again. "Marijuana?"

"Oh! I've heard of that." Lihn sat up a little more, intrigued. Here was something she'd never experienced, Perhaps it _could_ help her relax.

"You've heard of it?" the white eyed man chuckled, handing the joint to her. "here, take a drag and hold it in as long as you can…now go easy! It's not so smooth the first time." he patted Lihn on the back as she leaned forward coughing hard. He took a few quick puffs and held it back to the dark haired woman, "Try again" he commanded, his voice strained so as not to breath out too much. This time she did not hit it so hard and found that it was easier to hold in. She breathed out, slowly. She didn't feel any different. She accepted it again, and then again. She breathed out slowly again, the flavor wasn't really that unpleasant, though it was making her thirsty. She leaned forward to grab her drink and the world slipped sideways.

"Whoa!" Russel caught her by the arm before she completely left her seat. He easily pulled the petite woman back into her chair, somewhat facing him. "Ya ok?" he asked grinning.

"Hai, Origato, Russel-san." she giggled, gripping the arm of the chair with both hands.

"I think 'at's enough for you." he pointed out, pulling on the joint again.

"Mmhhmm." Lihn agreed, staring into his eyes. She was thinking about the blue man inside his head again, but Russel mistook the look for something else and began to lean in closer to the beautiful woman beside him. His face was inches from hers, when she suddenly realized his mistake. "Who is the man in you're head?" she blurted out a little too loudly.

The man with the glowing eyes sat back shocked, confused, and more then a little disappointed. "How'd you know 'bout Del?"

Lihn racked her fuzzy brain for a good lie, then she remembered, "I saw him. The first night." she explained quickly. "He was talking to Murdoc, but when you woke up, he was…sucked? into your head."

"Oh." The glow of his eyes dimmed slightly and he took a breath before speaking. "Del was my best friend when was teenagers. We were in the wrong neighborhood at the right time you might say." he shrugged is large shoulders and took a deep breath. "Some guys drove by in a van, Del got shot. He died. Right there." his eyes managed to have a far way look to them.

"I am so very sorry." Lihn whispered.

"I's not so bad, see? He didn't go nowhere. His spirit moved inta my head, so he's always wit me." he smiled wryly. "And he's damn good at spittin' rhyme. He's on our album."

"Oh. I haven't heard it." Lihn said embarrassed. "I had not heard of your band before I looked for Noodle." she half lied.

"Oh." they fell silent. Night sounds filled the air muffled by the sound of the filter pump on the pool and the occasional car passing out front.

"Told ya it'd help you sleep." Lihn jumped at the sound of the New York accent. She hadn't realized she'd been dozing until his words brought her out of it. "Why don' you go on up to bed? Should sleep pretty good now."

"Hai." Lihn stood unsteadily, kicking over her beer bottle. "Oh!" she bent to get the bottle, nearly falling over again, this time mostly from fatigue. Russel jumped up and caught her arm again pulling her up sharply. She caught herself placing her hands on his chest, leaning on him for support. She looked up into the silvery glow of his pupil-less eyes, her breath caught in her throat. "Origato." she breathed as leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She pressed back before pulling away, blinking. Her woes from earlier almost completely forgotten. She pushed away from him and he let her go reluctantly. "Oyasuminasai, Russel-san" she wished him goodnight, as she carefully stepped around him. She had almost reached the door when she stopped short, "My bottle!" she said half turning.

"Leave it for the cleanin' people." Russel waved her on.

The no-longer-a scientist shook her head. _the cleaning people. _She could get used to this lifestyle,… again. It had been lifetimes ago the last time she'd had servants. She happily let her mind wander as she made her way upstairs. Waving absently to 2-D on her way by.

He was on the couch, feet propped on the small table in front of him. Cigarette in one hand, Crypt of the Living Dead playing on a cable station. Though currently he was watching Lihn's rear end wiggled in her short, tan shorts as she climbed the stairs. Russel came in and joined him on the couch as she was reaching the top of the stair. "Shit, that's a fine ass." 2-D said craning his neck, trying to still see her.

"Absolutely." Russel replied kicking is feet up on the table.

" But I fink Murdoc's got a fing fer 'er." the blue headed man leaned forward, stubbing out his cigarette I the tray beside his feet, dejectedly.

"Nah, I don't think she's Muds' type." the other man lay his head back on the couch and pulled his cap over his eyes.

"Yea? Why not?"

"Cos', she's exactly MY type." Russ grinned, peaking out from his cap. 2-D didn't reply, he turned his attention back to the movie. After about ten minutes, Russel spoke up from behind his ball cap. "Hey, 'D?"

"Yea, Russ?"

" 'is movie sucks."

Author again: I hope the chapter title makes sense now. It was Lihn's first time smoking weed, and her first kiss with Russ. Maybe I should change the name. As always, comments are appreciated. Really! I have thick skin. I mean really, I wrote this chapter for k.d.a. and kristen-san, because they are the only ones that I KNOW are reading,lol. Ultimatley, this is practice to become a better writer, so please, critisize! see? I don't even think I spelled that right. Let me know If I'm too repeatative, or if I use too many commas. Anything! Are my descriptions ok? Not enough? Let me know! Above all, just let me know you're there.

Also, I obviously don't own Gorillaz, or the movie, Crypt of the Living Dead. Yes it's a real movie. And, yes, it really does suck. :)


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I'm so sorry it's take so long to update! A lot of "life" has happened since then. This chapter is a little shorter tha the others and I'm ot extremely pleased with it, but I wanted to get something posted. Hope it's enjoyable!

** An Understanding.**

Lihn woke the next morning rested though a cacophony of strange dreams hung in her memory. She showered and dressed, choosing a white tank top and a pair of pink, denim shorts. It was nice to be free of the button down shirts and lab coats she'd worn for ages. She checked herself in the mirror before pulling on her tennis shoes and bouncing out the door and down the stairs.

She was greeted by the sounds of an argument coming from the kitchen. Looking to her right she could see 2-D in almost the same position he'd been in when she went to bed, sprawled on the blue cushion, feet up on the glass table. She assumed he must have moved at some point though, because he was now wearing cut off denim shorts and a green tee with a smiley face sporting a bullet hole. She sat on the other end of the couch and nodding her head toward the kitchen asked "What is going on?"

"Murdoc only just got in 'bout twenty minutes ago, and Russ' pretty pissed. He finks we need t' be workin' on our next album instead o' playing around."

"Oh." it was band business again. Lihn looked at the TV, he seemed to be watching a poorly drawn cartoon with a cow and a chicken in it. "Where is Noodle?"

"Still abed. I guess she had a rough night, Russ sat up wif her fer a while." he shrugged his shoulders and his stomach made hunger noises. He clutched his hands over it and glanced at Lihn, embarrassed.

She just giggled, "Sounds like you have not had breakfast yet." She stood up and held a hand to him, "Let us get something to eat."

He turned his blue head toward the kitchen with a frightened look, "I fink I'll wait a bit."

It was Lihn's turn to shrug her shoulders, "Whatever you wish, 2-D, I am hungry NOW." she walked around the couch and through the wide doorway leading to the kitchen.

"It's like a fuckin vacation, Lards. Shut the fuck up and relax fer once!" Murdoc tossed what Lihn assumed were pain relievers into his mouth and tipped back a beer. _"is that all he drinks"_ she wrinkled her nose in disgust as she opened the fridge.

"We didn't come here to vacation, we came to work, and 'at's exactly what we should be doing." Russel retorted, completely oblivious to Lihn's presence as she pulled out the jar of juice. She wondered how long the he'd been up with Noodle as he seemed to be wearing the same clothes from the night before.

"What you want me to fuckin do, eh? I can't force 'em to change the appointment time." The older man pinched the bridge of his crooked nose and sighed audibly.. He looked exhausted. "I've had enough. 'm goin t' bed." he said angrily. He winked as he passed Lihn, stopping just behind her as she stood at the kitchen island and tugged the end of her long, dark pony tail, "Wouldn't care to join me eh?"

Lihn almost spat her juice across the room, managing to swallow without choking she replied, "I believe I am plenty well rested, Mr. Niccals!"

Murdoc simply shrugged, "Next time then." he left the room. They could hear him as he passed the couch, "Oi, Dullard! All that TV's gonna ruin yer eyes!" he cackled at his own joke as he climbed the stairs.

"Sorry bout that. He's _probably_ just jokin' round." Russel said, obviously irritated.

"It is OK." she shrugged her shoulders and turned, opening a cupboard to look for something to fix for breakfast. "It has been a while since I have been, how would you say? Hit up?" She shut the cupboard door and jumped not realizing that Russel had moved so close.

He was smiling, "I think you mean 'hit on', and I find that very hard to believe."

Lihn felt herself blushing. "There is not much time for romance in the world of science." she said with a hint of sadness.

The large man took a step closer and placed a hand on her upper arm sliding it down to lift her hand in his. "Well, you got all da time in da world now." he moved to bring her fingers to his lips but Lihn stopped him, placing her other hand over their joined ones.

"Good!" he looked at her, eyebrow raised questioningly, "Then we should have plenty of time for breakfast." she smiled teasingly.

"Great! What we having?" 2-D entered the room, unaware of the moment he was interrupting, and sat in a chair on the other side of the island. "Flapjacks sound good, or maybe waffles."

Russel half groaned, half sighed, and probably rolled his eyes but it was hard to tell. Lihn giggled and gave his hand a squeeze before letting go. They both turned to inspect the cupboards drawing another sigh from the larger man. "Looks like it's gone be cold cereal today, Bro." He tossed a colorful box to 2-D, who barley caught it. "Imma have ta leave a note fer da housekeeper."

"The housekeeper?" Lihn shook her head, grinning as she handed a bowl and spoon to the blue haired singer. She turned back toward the refrigerator to get the milk. "We have no plans, why do WE not go to get the groceries?"

"What?" 2-D spilled little brown cereal balls onto the counter, his reflexes were somewhat slow and soon cereal was spilling onto the floor. "You serious?" his pale face, though hard to read with his bruised eye sockets, managed to look incredulous.

"Damn, 'D." the large man huffed. His eyes scanned the room, "Theys gotta be a broom round here somewhere."

"Sorry, Russ." the lanky man held his bowl at the edge of the counter an began sweeping cereal into it. "But you 'member the last time we went to market?"

He chuckled as he moved toward what he assumed was a broom closet. "Yea, I 'member."

"It was not a pleasant experience?"

Russ glanced at the Asian woman holding a gallon of milk. With that innocently confused expression on her face, she looked just like Noodle. "Naw, it wa'nt what I'd call pleasant." he grinned opening the closet. "Jackpot." he pulled out a yellow handled broom and began sweeping the cereal into a pile.

"We barley made it out wif our shirts!" The dark eyed man explained sweeping the last of the cereal from the counter into his bowl. "Ere, what's 'is?" he set down the bowl and picked up a stack of papers that had been sitting on the corner of the island.

Russel looked up from the dustpan, "Mudz brought that in, musta forgot it." he stood and dumped the contents of the pan into a trash bin.

2-D was flipping through the pages, squinting at the print, "Looks like a script." he pointed to something on one of the pages, "It's got all our names in it, and stuff we're supposed to say, 'ey! I wouldn't do that!" he said a bit angrily.

"Let me see 'D" he already looked irritated before he even looked at the first page. His brows furrowed together as he glanced through the first couple of pages, "I gotta check 'is out." Russel plodded out of the kitchen, his eyes never leaving the paper.

"Does 'at mean no breakfast?" 2-D mumbled dejectedly.

Lihn sighed and turned to put the milk jug back into the refrigerator. There was a large fruit basket on top of it. She reached up and pulled it down, placing it in front of 2-D she removed the cellophane wrapping. "Have some fruit." she selected an orange and used her nails to peel it.

"Fruit? For breakfast?" his voice was doubtful.

"Yes!" Lihn laughed, "It is good for you. Besides, I will go to the grocery and when I come back, I will make a nice lunch."

"Ikitai!" The two were a bit startled by the appearance of Noodle in the doorway. She was dressed in what seemed to be a short flowered, sundress and knee length denim shorts. Her hair was pulled into a sloppy ponytail and she wore a yellow sun visor. "Ikitai." she repeated to Lihn. "Go, please?"

"Good English, Noods!" 2-D praised the girl giving her his gap toothed grin.

Lihn was surprised that the child wanted to join her after the events of the night before, "Hai, of course you can come." she grinned but inside she was somewhat suspicious. They had spent the last few days enjoying each others company and having a great time, but they hadn't been alone. After the events of last night, Lihn suspected Noodle had more in mind than picking up another bag of sweets. Lihn dreaded finding out what she was pretty sure she already knew. If her suspicions were confirmed then she would have to do something about it, wouldn't she? But that was exactly why she needed to find out for sure.

"'Ere, Noods, you can't go out like 'at." Lihn's inner turmoil was interrupted. "You'll get mobbed!" 2-D listened to Noodle's reply though he had no idea what she was saying. He looked helplessly at Lihn.

"She said there is little chance of her being recognized without one of you. People will just think she is my daughter." the woman translated.

The blue haired man wrinkled his face up with doubt, "I dunno, yer pretty popular here in da states."

The short girl looked at her care giver with a pout.

"Russ, in't gonna like it." he shook his head. The girl's eyes seemed to grow larger, and her lip protruded a bit more. "Don't give me the face Noods!" he pleaded. "Besides," his face brightened, "Murdoc's prolly got the keys in 'is pocket still."

The mention of Russel made Lihn's mind up for her. If she wanted to stick around and get to know him, she would have to find out what was up with Noriku. With a slight movement of her hand, a set of keys materialized on the counter behind her. Feigning ignorance, she looked about the room, turning, "Here they are." she said picking them up. "We'll go and be back before you are knowing it." she smiled. She headed out of the kitchen, "Noodlechan, kinasai."

Noodle patted 2-D's arm reassuringly before grabbing an apple from the basket and following Lihn.

It was a gorgeous day. Lihn put the top down on the cherry red BMW and climbed in the drivers' side. She flipped on the radio and backed out of the driveway, bopping her head to Ah-Ha's 'Take on Me". Noodle sat in the passenger's seat, seatbelt already fastened, fidgeting with the hem of her dress. They had driven for a few minutes in silence when the girl spoke up, "How do you know where you are going?" Her little eyebrows drew together in a look of suspicion.

Lihn's eyes got big for a moment as she realized she didn't know how to answer that. "I'm just… going … to go …uptown. Yes! Then ask directions. The girl scrutinized her for a moment before turning back to look out of the windshield. Lihn glance around for a gas station, spying one she changed lanes and pulled in the parking lot. She put the car in park but left it running, She spoke to Noodle in Japanese, "I'll be back, shall I bring you something?"

The diminutive girl thought for a moment. "Hai, some watermelon bubble gum, please."

Lihn nodded and headed into the store. She didn't really need to ask for directions, she had an innate sense of direction that _usually_ led her where she needed to go, but she knew Noodle would be watching her. So, she grabbed the package of gum from the counter and asked the young man standing there where the nearest grocery store was. He was happy to help, drawing a little map on a napkin which also happened to have his phone number on it. Lihn flashed him a smile and a wink as she left the store. It felt good to be wanted.

Walking to the car, she noticed Noodle trying to make herself smaller, glancing around she noticed a car-full of teenagers looking in her direction and whispering to each other. Several of them seemed to be trying to convince one other to approach the convertible. _The price of fame._ Lihn thought dryly, but she quickened her pace and hopped into her seat. "Let's go, huh?" Noodle caught the pack of gum tossed to her and nodded . Lihn threw the car into gear and took off out of the parking lot. "It probably gets old not being able to leave the house without being recognized." Noodle just nodded again. Lihn's heart went a bit soft, she of all people new how important privacy was. She couldn't imagine being Noodle's age and having to deal with that on top of all the other things a preteen goes through.

_Don't get to attached. _part of her brain said, _yea right, too late!_ replied the other part. She was going to have to talk to the girl, find out if these 'nightmares' weren't something more. She pulled into the shopping center and turned off the car. "Noodle," she began, but the girl cut her off.

"I'm sorry." she said quickly in English.

"What?" the older woman was taken aback.

"I'm sorry," she repeated but in Japanese. "For what happened back at Kong." she laced her fingers and set her hands in her lap staring at them. "It was just a nightmare and only a coincidence that you were in it, I'm sure." she grinned shyly, at her Aunt. "I'm glad you came to find me, Obachan. It is nice to have another female to talk to. Especially one that can understand me!"

_What luck!_ Lihn had been prepared for a bit of confrontation but the girl had removed the need. It would be easy to simply keep an eye on her now. Lihn came back to the conversation at hand. "It must be difficult living with three men and having no one your age around."

Noodle looked a bit relieved to have an understanding audience. "I love the guys," she said, "they are like big brothers to me. Russel is my caretaker, 2-D's my companion, and Murdoc-san teaches me about the real world and how to "not take crap from anyone"," she quoted the last part in English making Lihn smile, "But it IS difficult." she scooted in her seat to face Lihn. "they treat me like a flower. I know I am small but I am not fragile!" Her little hands clenched. "And there are things I simply can not talk to them about, even if they could understand me." her cheeks turned slightly red.

Lihn simply looked at the girl for a moment, then a light bulb seemed to shine, "Oh! You mean about boys."

"Yes! But not it's just that. They treat me like a toddler! I know I don't _look_ my age, but I _feel_ it. It would be nice if I could at least meet some people my own age that I could talk to and hang out with." she almost whined.

Lihn grinned and patted Noodle's hand. "Tell you what, I'll have a chat with Russel when we get back and see what I can't do."

"really?" Her older look alike nodded yes and Noodle threw her arms around her, "Origato, Obachan! Origato!" Lihn hugged her back. It would be nice to care for someone again. She just hoped that she wasn't making a mistake.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: So sorry it took so long to update! Due to lots of life-y kind of stuff, I couldn't get online for months. But the next chapter is just about ready to be uploaded too. ^.^ Let me know how I'm doing! Do the Japanese words need translation or am I using them appropriately enough to be understood? Not a very long chapter but I hope you enjoy!**  
**

** Chapter 7**

** Movin on up  
**

It was going to be a late lunch, the girls had been gone for hours enjoying their shopping trip. After their little talk they wandered around the grocery chatting while they shopped. Noodle told Lihn some of her fond memories, and some of her not so fond ones. They pointed out their favorite foods to each other and laughed about some of the strange things Americans eat. Finally, they made their purchases and headed back to the condo.

Lihn turned the BMW into the driveway next to a white box truck. "Expecting a delivery?" Lihn asked Noodle who shook her head negatively. They each grabbed an armful of brown paper grocery bags and headed toward the door of the condo. Two men in uniform shirts that they didn't recognize shoved their way through the door and past them carrying luggage.

"That's MY bag!" Noodle said watching them load the bags up on the truck.

" Kinasai, let us find out what is going on." Lihn was walking backward talking to Noodle and didn't see the man come out the door carrying Murdoc's bass case. He didn't see her either as they collided, sending one of Lihn's grocery bags to the ground. A sack of flour all but exploded as it hit the concrete walkway, "Baka yarou!" she cursed in Japanese out of habit.

"'Ere!, Be careful with 'at! It's worth more than your life, mate!" Murdoc's grumpy voice shouted out the doorway. Lihn was crouching down trying to retrieve the bag she'd dropped without letting go of the two she held. "There you are!" his was voice even more irritated as he advanced on her, "Where the hell 'ave you been? And who told you to take MY car?" His attention went from Lihn to her adopted niece, "Noodle! You know you can't just up an' leave like 'at. It's dangerous for you out in public and who was there to protect you? Skinny Mini over there? I don' think so! Somethin' could've 'appened to you and what kind of position would that leave us in, eh? No position, I'll tell you that for free." Noodle tried to bury her head in the bags she was carrying and walked on but Murdoc only followed her continuing to admonish the poor girl.

_How could anyone get used to that? _Lihn thought, finally managing to pick up the fallen bag. She dodged a couple of the workers as she made her way to the kitchen. Murdoc was still going on about how inconsiderate it was of his guitarist to put herself in jeopardy. Didn't she know the band needed her? She set the bags on the island counter next to the ones Noodle had been carrying. "What is going on?" she questioned no one in particular, brushing flour from her pink shorts..

"Please, be careful wif 'at, I got it in India, s'irreplacable, mate." 2-D was following closely behind a short, stocky man carrying a large instrument case. "I could, you know, carry it m'self?"

"Dullard!" Murdoc hollered in their direction, finally distracted from his little charge. "Let the movers do their job!"

"Movers?" Lihn's brows knit together in confusion.

Murdoc turned remembering her, "You. Where d'you get off taking my car AND my guitarist with out askin me?" He stepped closer to her, intimidatingly.

Lihn looked up into his mismatched eyes, unafraid, and raised an eyebrow. She decided to ignore his rude behavior as it seemed to be normal for him and pulling the keys to the car from her pocket, she shoved them toward him. "Why do we need movers? Are we leaving?"

His strange eyes immediately changed from angry to delighted, "Because my dear," he snatched the keys from her hand and tossed them up to catch them again, "I bought a house!" he said triumphantly. "And not just a house, a mansion! Big, gorgeous place, befitting a rock star such as myself." Noodle glared at him from across the counter, "And the others, of course." he grumbled, leaning back against the counter. "You're gonna love it, and I got it for a steal! Something bout it being haunted or other, but no matter," he waved a hand dismissively, "it's great. Huge rooms, Olympic size pool, a sauna, a room just for our instruments so's we can practice, keep on our toes, so to speak. That ought to make Tubbs happy." he trailed off distracted by a commotion in the front room, "What now?" he growled, "It's so hard to find good help." He stalked out of the kitchen yelling before he even knew what he was yelling about.

It wasn't long before they were stepping out of the convertible in the drive way of an enormous mansion. The front lawn was almost large enough to play a game of professional football. The drive way led to a large garage and split off somewhere to the side of the house. Murdoc shut his car door and turned to face them, spreading his arms like a game-show girl, "So? You love it right?" He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Who is going to live here?" Lihn wondered aloud, her eyes wide. She craned her neck to see the second story, a covered balcony seemed to wrap around the entire house. There was a grand porch leading up to the enormous front doors. The doors were stained almost black and trimmed in gold. They stood out oddly from the red brick the rest of the building was made of. The longer she looked at it the more she didn't like it.

Though the sun was shining brightly, there was a dark feeling creeping over her like standing under a thunder cloud. She looked out across the pristine front lawn then back toward the house. It was definitely coming from there.

The others were almost to the front doors, she could see Noodle peering around suspiciously and wondered if the girl could sense it too. Lihn hurried to catch up with the others and stopped just inside the open doors.

"Welcome to the Gorillaz American base of operations." Murdoc announced. They were standing in a large foyer. A wide set of carpeted stairs led upward in front of them. It had those banisters that just begged you to slide down them. The marble floored hall led down either side of the staircase with arched, open doorways leading into various rooms. Lihn stepped in and closed the door behind her, the feeling of not-rightness was almost suffocating.

2-D whistled in amazement. "This is pretty posh, Murdoc! You sure we can afford 'is?"

"And why do we NEED an 'American base of operations?" Russel asked, "How long you plan on staying here, man?"

"As long as it takes, mate. From here, we can really network, get to know the celebs, hob-nob, that sort of thing." he walked into the room on the right side of the hall, which seemed to be a sitting room.

Russel followed his voice filled with annoyance, "you mean, it's a good place to party, don't you?"

"Would you get off my back?, Sweet Satan!" Murdoc dramatized, He dropped onto a low couch and stuck his feet up on the coffee table in front of it. "We throw a couple parties, meet some people and find a decent director."

"Yea, and a decent writer, cos I don't know where you got that script last night, but it was shit!." Russel told him.

2-D sat on the edge of the couch near Murdoc and lit a cigarette. "yea, it made me out like a complete idiot, Murdoc!"

"That's cos you ARE a complete idiot, Doorknob!" he slapped the back of 2-D's head, knocking him off balance.

Russel bristled, "Yo, better chill, Muds, don't wanna have ta put you in your place again."

Lihn was only half paying attention to them while the other half of her brain saw Noodle jerk her head toward a room on the left of the hallway and take off into the room as if she were chasing something. _What could she be up too?_ Lihn thought. She glanced at the men arguing in the other room, they didn't seem like they'd miss her.

She walked to the door she'd seen Noodle go through, her sneakers smacking on the marble floor and peered in. It led to a formal dining room. There was a banquet sized dining table surrounded by high backed chairs, a matching sideboard and china cabinet sat against the wall across from her. A chandelier made up of antlers and bone hung over the middle of the table. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. _ Why would anyone want such a thing?_

Noodle was not in sight, but there was a door leading out of the right side of the room. Lihn pushed it open and found herself in a sort of butlers pantry, it was almost a hallway, lined with shelves and cupboards. There was a small sink, a microwave, a tiny refrigerator and another door at the other end. There were noises coming from the other side of it and when opened, Lihn saw a large kitchen. People were carrying things in from outside through a door on her left and disappearing into the house through a door on her right. A young woman was putting away the groceries she and Noodle had bought earlier. Another woman wearing an apron was cutting vegetables on the island counter.

"Excuse me." The wrinkled little woman stopped slicing, knife in the air and glanced at the slight, Asian woman, she yelled something in Spanish and went back to her work. A man in a suit came in from the doorway on the right, he looked at Lihn and said with a snobby lisp, 'The laundry is upstairs, you may use the servants elevator in the garage, make sure all the beds have clean linens and that there are fresh towels in the bathrooms. And for heavens sake, find a proper uniform. You can't be flaunting yourself in front of the new owners. They're some sort of _rock stars, _they'll never leave you alone." He slurred 'rock stars' as if it were some sort of new mold you found in bathroom toilets.

Lihn stood dumbfounded for a moment. She had been in a position of authority for three decades and was taken aback at being spoken to this way. She had been in servants positions in her past and this was just the type of person that made those jobs miserable. And why had he assumed she was the laundry girl, because she was wearing an Asian face? She was outraged. The ex-supervising doctor drew herself to her full height, as un-impressive as it was, and pulled out her haughtiest tone of voice. "I believe you have mistaken me for someone else. I am the youngest ROCK STAR'S guardian, whom I am currently seeking. If you have no information as to her whereabouts, I suggest you get back to work and stop insulting me."

The skinny butler's face paled, but he kept his voice steady, "Of course madam, I must apologize. A small girl passed through only moments ago. I believe she was headed for the great room."

Lihn didn't reply, she tossed her hair, put her nose in the air and stormed past the self indignant man. As she passed through the door she heard him mutter under his breath, "Nannies, such bother!"

_I must remember to speak to Murdoc about that little slug and have him replaced. _She thought angrily. She took a deep breath and looked around. She was in the hallway behind the stairs and in front of her was an enormous sunken room which could only be the great room. She took the three steps down into the room. There were many comfortable looking couches and chairs. There were end tables and coffee tables and ottomans, all in complimenting shades of brown, red and orange. There was a wet bar on one side of the room and a man was setting up a rather expensive looking stereo on the opposite side of the room. And in a corner to the right of the stereo was a delicate looking piano. There was still no sign of Noodle, though, but there were two doors on the far wall.

Lihn pushed open the first one. The room looked like a small movie theater, there were about twenty very comfortable looking plush chairs set in two rows. They were facing a huge projection screen that had heavy, red curtains pulled to either side of it just like a cinema. There were even a popcorn machine and fountain drink dispenser in the corner of the room.

She shut the door and tried the next one. Here were the bands instruments. There was Murdoc's _El Diablo_, which he claimed was borrowed from the devil himself. 2-D's various keyboards were leaned against a wall. A drum kit was set in a corner and several pieces of electronic equipment were set beside it. There microphones and amplifiers, a violin and various smaller instruments, stools and stands. A sound board was set up in another corner and in the middle of the room sat Noodle. She was tuning the strings on her Les Paul, her back to the door. She had taken down her pony tail and her hair stuck out I every direction. Her taller look-alike slipped into the room and shut the sound-proof door. "There you are." The diminutive guitarist didn't even shudder in surprise, "What are you doing?"

She didn't stop fiddling with the keys but answered in Japanese, "I thought I saw something, so I followed it in here. It disappeared thought the wall." she nodded in the direction it had gone. The girl did not seem overly concerned and the air in the room was easier to breath, as if the cloud had gone. The girls voice brightened, "But I found my guitar, so it was not a wasted trip." she grinned up at Lihn. "I have not played in weeks, I think that is why I have felt so much stress." she strummed the strings and nodded in satisfaction. She began to play a soft melody and closed her eyes, letting her fingers dance on the strings. Lihn crossed the room and leaned against the wall the "thing" had gone though and similarly closed her eyes, enjoying the soft tune. "You play, yes?" Noodle asked in English.

"Not since college." Lihn lied.

"What did you play?" Noodle reverted back to Japanese, her fingers still plucking the strings.

"Oh, a little of this, a little of that." Lihn scuffed her sneaker through the thick yellow carpet. "Mostly piano and violin." she picked the most common things she could think of.

Noodle perked up, "There is a violin. You could play with me?"

"I do not think so. It has been so long, I would be terrible." Lihn lied again, looking at her shoes and shrugging as if embarrassed.

"Oh." The child looked so dejected that Lihn instantly felt bad. It made her think of someone kicking a puppy. Noodle stared at the floor as her tune became sadder. Lihn groaned inwardly as she crossed the room to pick up the violin and bow. "Maybe just a little." She said as she sat next to her tiny twin. Noodle looked up, her grin was like sunshine when Lihn began to play Twinkle Little Star. She was careful to throw in the odd mistake here and there to keep up with her stories. She was impressed with Noodle's talent. She had heard some of the Gorillaz music by now but was still amazed by the girls ability to compose on the spot as she plucked a harmony to Lihn's choice of song.

The old liar finished the song with a horribly off-key squeal, causing herself and Noodle to shudder. "Perhaps you should practice some more." The younger girl suggested sternly, but she was smiling.

Lihn nudged her with an elbow, "I told you as much." she inspected the violin she was holding. It had always been one of her favorite instruments. This one was a little beat up, the stain was rubbing off the neck from much use, the chin rest was smoothed with wear. "Who does this belong to, Noodle-Chan?"

"The little guitarist shrugged, "I suppose it belongs to the band, but I play it the most. I played it for the track, "Left Hand Suzuki Method"."

"Oh." Lihn had no idea what she was talking about.

"It is on our 'G-sides' album." Lihn's face was still blank. Noodle heaved a great sigh, lay her guitar beside her and reached out for the violin. She tested the strings, took a moment to tune it to her liking and began to play and upbeat melody. It sounded almost familiar and was very catchy, Lihn found herself bobbing in time with the music. The girl stopped and Lihn clapped her hands. "Lovely!" she said.

"I played the violin and guitar on that track." the girl said proudly, laying the violin on the floor next to her guitar. "Murdoc-san said he liked it very much, but it did not make it onto the Gorillaz album." she shook her head, messing up her purplish hair even more than it was. "When they decided to release the G-sides, he insisted it be on it." her green eyes sparkled.

"You are very talented." Lihn didn't want to spoil the girls mood but the oppressive feeling was creeping back over her, she took a deep breath and moved the hair out of her new friend's face, "Noodle, what did you follow in to the room? You said it disappeared through the wall."

"I do not know." the girl's brow furrowed just like Lihn's did when she was considering something. "It was mostly shadow, but not a shadow. It led me through the kitchen, and I do not believe anyone else could see it." she leaned closer to her impostor relative and whispered, "I believe it is watching us now."

Lihn nodded, "I feel it too. I think maybe we'd better find the others." Noodle nodded in agreement and stood. She leaned her instruments against a wall and followed Lihn back in to the great room. The man that had been setting up the stereo was gone, presumably having finished his job. The two girls followed the hallway back to the room the guys had last been in, but it was empty. The only sign of their presence was the used ash tray.

They decided to look upstairs. The stepped into a large hallway lined with doors. Directly in front of them was a pair of large double doors. Pushing them open revealed a large library. There were book shelves along all the walls, interrupted only by the doors into the room. The middle of the room held a heavy wooden table with matching chairs round it. There was a couch off to the left that seemed to made of the same wood with thick leather cushions on it. The other end had to arm chairs with an end table between them holding a lamp. The room smelt of leather and old parchment. The air had a heavy feeling to it, but weather it was from the strange presence or the just the normal oppressive feeling of too many words bound in one place.

Noodle walked along one of the walls, her hand trailing the books, her eyes wide in wonderment." She stopped and pulled a thick volume off the shelf. She opened the cover and ran a hand over the page softly. Her head turned in Lihn's direction, "What does it say?" she asked excitedly.

Lihn crossed the room and looked at the page. "_The Lord of the Rings"_ by Proff. J.R.R. Tolkien" she looked at the shelf it had come from, "There are many adventure stories here."

"You must teach me English, I want to read all of them!" The Noodle gazed around wide eyed.

"Let us hope you do not have time." Lihn said under her breath. She hoped to spend as little time here as possible. "Come, let us keep looking."

There was a normal sized door and then a smaller set of double doors on this wall. As they drew closer to the second door, they could see that it was slightly ajar. Noodle was a few steps in front of Lihn and knocked on the door. 2-D's muffled voice came through, "S'occupied."

"2-D? It's Noodle." she said in English. "Are you OK?" she pushed the door slightly inward peeking around it. "Oh!" she shoved it the rest of the way open and rushed inside.

When Lihn reached the doorway she saw 2-D sitting on a toilet and Noodle was pulling a wet and bloodied washcloth away from his cheek revealing a cut under his eye. "What happened?"

"Murdoc-kun!" Noodle huffed angrily.

"We just had an argument, Noods, it's no big deal, really. I'm fine." he said, although not very convincingly.

"Well, let me check it out for you." Lihn moved Noodle aside with a hand and took the cloth from her. She turned his face up to look at it. From across the room he seemed to have two large dents where his eyes should be, hence the nickname, 2-D. But up close, she could see that the skin around his eyes was very discolored, like deep bruises that had never healed, it was such a stark contrast to the pale skin around it. And she marveled at his eyes, the whites of his eyes were actually blood red as if all the blood vessels in them had burst. It was a wonder that he could see. She tore her eyes away from his and looked at the cut below the left one. "It is not so bad." she said throwing the wash cloth into the sink and wrapping a fair amount of toilet paper around her hand. "But you need a dry compress to make it stop bleeding." she pressed the paper to his face firmly causing him to wince. "Sorry, 2-D."

"S'ok." he half grinned.

"What is your real name, 2-D?" Lihn asked, suddenly realizing that she didn't know.

"Pot," he said fidgeting with the hem of his t-shirt. "Stuart Pot."

Lihn smiled broadly, "Stu Pot? I love it!" she pulled the paper away from his face. The bleeding had stopped so she retrieved the wash cloth and cleaned his face.

"Yea, well, I guess my folks had a sense of humor." he said a little bitterly.

"I think it is adorable." she tossed the cloth back into the sink and kissed his cheek like a mother whose fixed up a boo boo, "All better, Stu Pot."

He looked up at her with a grin, "It doesn't sound so bad when you say it, Lihn."

She grinned back but noticed Noodle fidgeting uncomfortably. She cleared her throat, "Stuart, have you seen anything strange since you've been in the house?"

"There's a picture in the hall of some men wif goat legs chasin some naked girls." He shrugged, "s'pretty weird, right?"

Noodle giggled and Lihn grinned, "Yes. That is pretty weird." she agreed, "But it's not what I meant." Her grin turned upside down as 2-D's stomach began to grumble. "You have not yet eaten?" He shook his head negatively. "Neither have we." she gave a sigh. "Kinasai, Noodle-Chan. The mystery shall have to wait. To the kitchen!"


	8. Chapter 8

****A/N Ok, here's chapter 8. I know, I know it took WAY longer to publish than it should have. I'm sorry. I seem to be drawing blanks at this part of the story. I have certain parts already written out but it's hard to bridge them. I think I will start a different 'story' which will be a series of these 'oneshots' and I will add them here as they become relevant to the time line. And please, let me know how I'm doing. If anything is confusing or if I should do anything different, please offer your advise.

**Chapter 8**

**I'm not good at naming chapters**

Russel opened his eyes. He panicked for a moment before remembering where he was, the mansion in L.A.. The bed he was lying in was too soft. It felt like it was trying to swallow him. He stuck a hand down his boxers and gave him self a good scratch before rolling into a sitting position on the side of the bed. _Fuck that, it's too much like work!_

_**Quit whining, ya big baby.**_ Del teased him from somewhere in inside his head.

"Big talk, comin' from somebody who ain't had legs in fifteen years or so." The big man chuckled lighting a cigarette from the bed stand.

_**I got legs! Sortta…**_ was the reply.

Russel chuckled again. He stretched and hefted himself to his feet. He was still tired. Murdoc had thrown a "house warming" party the night before. The big man couldn't believe how many people had shown up. They had to have broken several fire codes. He had to admit though, Murdoc had been right about networking. There had been enough celebrities there to film a Mel Brookes movie. He'd even gotten a few leads for possible directors. He doubted Muds had gotten that far, being his usual self the satanic bassist had been busy hitting on women, drinking and bragging. Usually all at the same time.

He shuffled into the bathroom and glanced in the large mirror as he relieved himself, cigarette clenched in his teeth. His eyes were still puffy and he needed a shave but he wanted to get down to the kitchen and, hopefully, catch Lihn before the whole household was up. He'd been hoping to get some more alone time with her but hadn't managed it yet. She'd spent the first couple days walking around the house looking for shadows. It was a little crazy, but after the things he'd seen at Kong, and the fact that he had a spirit living in his own head… well, maybe it wasn't that crazy after all. He took a last puff and tossed the cigarette in the toilet before flushing.

He thought the party would be a good opportunity to chat with her but there'd been so many people, he barely caught a glimpse of her. And when he did she was the center of a group of tanned, young men and she'd been laughing. He felt a twang of jealousy at the thought. Quickly he finished his morning routine and pulled on some clothes.

He stepped into the kitchen to see Lihn standing at the large stove shaking spice into a skillet while the girl that was being paid to cook for them looked on attentively. Russel sniffed the air appreciatively. He didn't know how she did it. The petite woman was always the first one up. She managed to look as though she'd just stepped out of a fashion magazine, she cooked like Martha Stewart, and from what he'd seen so far, she was sweet as hell. He stood in the doorway for a moment taking in her silky braids and the khaki shorts that just managed to be descent. The mustard yellow shirt was the exact same shade as her strappy high heeled shoes.

"Come in and sit down, Russel." She called over her shoulder. How'd she known he was there? He sat at the high counter that was to the left of the stove. "Mornin', up early as usual, I see."

She smile at him, "I want to make sure my Darling gets a good breakfast. And Noodle, too!" she winked at him.

_**Damn! That girls got it for you.**_

_Shut up, Del!_

"That's awful nice of ya, but I AM a pretty descent cook myself." he told her.

"Oh?"

"Mmhhmm. You don't think I got this," he patted his large belly, "by not a knowing thing or too around the kitchen?"

Lihn and the girl beside her gave small laughs. Lihn handed the girl her spatula and gave her a few more instructions before turning toward the counter. She put her elbows on it and leaned toward Russel with a smile. "Perhaps I shall let you cook for me sometime."

"Perhaps you shall." He smiled at her. He wondered if she was leaning that way purposefully to frame her breasts. He was having trouble not staring at them. "So, what're you up to today?"

She stood up straight and put her hand on top of her head, "Oh, about five six with these heels on." she laughed and Russel did too.

_**Dude, she's totally flirting with you!**_

"Seriously, though, I'm giving Noodle an English lesson after breakfast, but after that I have no plans." She shrugged. "What of you?"

"I dunno know yet." he said seriously. "Think I'm gonna try to catch Murdoc and see if we can't get some work done today."

_**You idiot! She wants to hang out!**_

_Shut up, man, I got dis._

Lihn cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrow, shaking her head slightly. She walked around the counter and came to stand behind him. She put her hands on his shoulders, giving a them a squeeze and said, "I think Mr. Niccals may be right. You work too much."

"Miss Lihn?" she looked past him to the girl that had been cooking, "Your breakfast." She set a plate in front of Russel and one to his left.

"Origato, Missy." she gave Rus' shoulder a pat and pulled herself up onto the stool next to him.

"Yea, thanks." The big man, at a loss for words, took a bite of his omelet. "Damn!" he said appreciatively before devouring another forkful.

Lihn swallowed a more conservative bite and smiled at him. They spent the rest of the meal discussing they're favorite omelet ingredients. Noodle wandered in at some point and joined them, then 2-D. They sat talking even after their plates were empty. When the younger girl pushed her plate away declaring she was full, Lihn stood.

"Time for English lessons." she spoke in Japanese to Noodle. She made to walk away but paused just by Russel. "I have decided that I shall spend the afternoon by the pool." she trailed a hand across his shoulders as she passed behind him and looked at him over her shoulder with a sly grin. "And I shall wear my new bathing suit. The one bought the other day."

2-D coughed hard and dropped his fork. Lihn's grin grew and she left the room followed by her niece.

_**BRO!**_

_I know, I know._

_**But, Bro…**_

_Damn, Del, It's not like I'm hard up for girls. Shit! I am kinda famous you know?_

_**I know dat. I seen girls throw themselves at you tons o times, but you hardly ever take 'em up. You GOTTA hit this one up!**_

_I plan on it. But she ain't just some fan. This isn't a 'hit it and quit it' situation. Besides, there's something bout her I ain't quite got my finger on, yet…_

Russel spent the rest of the morning looking forward to the afternoon. He'd gotten online and checked the Gorillaz website, which had cameras allowing viewers to see almost all of Kong. After deciding things at home were ok, he'd gone through some e-mails. He ran into Murdoc later in the morning and half-heartedly brow beat him about getting some work done. He'd had some lunch, flipped through some magazines, and found nothing on television. Bored, he threw on some swimming trunks and a muscle shirt and went down to the pool. He would just be there when she showed up.

He took a few laps around the pool and sat on a lawn chair under the warm California sun. It wasn't long before he fell asleep. The moment he was out, an eerie mist-like substance extracted itself from his body. It coalesced into a semi solid person who stretched as though he'd been cooped up.

"Finally! Fresh air!" which was really just a figure of speech, since being dead, he didn't need any air, fresh or otherwise.

Del looked around. He was standing on a concrete patio beside a large in ground pool behind the mansion. For such a large house, the yard didn't seem very big. Of course, he was used to the grounds surrounding Kong, but still, the fenced yard seemed small. A walk way led from the this patio beyond the pool to a gazebo surrounded by a small garden. The walk continued through the garden to another patioed area containing a bar, a stone built grill and a couple sets of tables and chairs. It was a great yard for entertaining, as long as you didn't have too many friends. He glanced down at the snoring Russel and wondered if the lawn chair would hold for long. He walked to the edge of the pool and looked down into it.

The water reflected a young man's face with white, pupil-less eyes. No matter how much time passed, it never changed. His dread locks would never get longer, the slight stubble of a mustache would never be anything more. He looked back at his host's face. There were the beginnings of age lines around his eyes and mouth, he still hadn't shaved. How many years had it been since the drive by? If he'd been able to draw breath he would have sighed loudly.

He turned back to the pool and sat with his legs in the water. It didn't matter that he was wearing jeans and his kicks since the water couldn't _really_ touch him. It moved gently from the filter pumps and seemed to be passing around his legs as if he were really there. It felt weird. It was like the sound bees make, only as a feeling rather than a sound.

The ghost didn't turn at the sound of the glass doors opening and closing, he had a sense for people and could easily recognize those that he was around often. "What's up, Noods?" There was no answer and no more sound of movement. "Noodle, ya'll right?" He looked over his shoulder and his jaw dropped.

It wasn't Noodle who'd come outside. Lihn stood staring at him curiously. Her hair was braided and wrapped around her head like a crown. Her yellow bathing suit was straining to keep her breasts bound and her matching shades reflected the sun back at him. She smiled and continued toward the pool, pausing by a lawn chair and dropped her towel onto it. She turned toward the snoozing Russel then back toward the blue skinned entity, "You must be Del." she said slipping her shoes off.

"And you ain't Noodle." he replied coming out of his stupor.

"No, not the last time I checked." She raised an eyebrow, and came to sit next to him. She swung her legs in the water a bit, enjoying the coolness. She was looking at him curiously.

Del's senses were telling him he was sitting next to Noodle, but his eyes were telling him otherwise. He knew they were related but that didn't explain this. All souls resonated with a different vibe. "Somethin's not right."

Lihn's eye brows came together, "What?"

"How are you related to Noodle?" Del asked suspiciously.

"I am her mother's sister." Lihn replied easily.

The ghost shook his head, "No you're not! I don't know what you are, but you're lyin." Del had been on the other side for quite some time and he had a sense for the un-natural. And there was something very un-natural about this woman.

"Why would you say that?" she asked innocently, but there was something in her eyes that he didn't trust.

"For one, you ain't even a little freaked out by me." he pointed out.

Lihn shrugged, "I saw you the first night I arrived at Kong. And Russel and the others have spoken of you. Also, I am a scientist. I never discovered anything by being squeamish." she grinned, "So, there is no reason to be 'freaked out', is there?"

"There _could_ be if you ain't straight with me." he said menacingly curling his hand into a fist.

Lihn laughed, "Do you really think I'm some kind of threat? Little me?" she spread her arms wide.

"Looks can be deceiving." he said, taking a good look.

The slight woman stood, "I am sorry you feel that way. I suppose you shall just have to get to know me before you trust me." She turned her back to the pool, raised her arms way above her head and fell backwards, making a splash. She twisted her body under the water and shot off across the pool, emerging on the other side. She smiled and winked at Del before diving back under and heading for the deeper end of the pool. It was eerie how agile she was in the water, she almost looked fake.

He watched her as she swam. She may be a mystery, but she was hot too. He knew if he was still alive he'd have been sporting a hard on. He gave the ghostly equivalent of a sigh and shook his head, _Damn, what good is hangin around when I can't really LIVE?_ If he'd been alive, with a body of his own, he'd have hit that by now. Russel would've been mad, but first come, first served, and Russ was always slow, except when it came to food.

"Hello, Del!" He'd been so wrapped up in thought that he hadn't noticed Noodle and 2-D coming up behind him.

"Hey, Noods." he nodded in greeting. He couldn't help but smile at her fashion sense. She was wearing a purple one-piece suit with a pair of red and yellow boys trunks over it. Her hair was in a ponytail high on her head. She tossed her large red sunglasses on top of her towel and came to stand by Del. "What is up, Brutha?" she asked in English holding out her fist.

The ghost rapper 'pounded' her fist and replied, "Nothin much, Little Sista." He wondered briefly what she felt when they touched. To him it was nothing more than pressure like when you try to force magnets of the same polarity together. He imagined being hit with 'the force' felt like that.

Noodle smiled broadly, turned her back to the pool and let herself fall backwards. She and Lihn swam together, splashing each other and laughing. It was uncanny how alike they were. They even moved the same, though Noodle wasn't quite as graceful as her older counterpart.

Del watched them for a moment before he noticed it. It was subtle. Their 'vibes' weren't _exactly_ the same, but they were the same. It was like the difference between freshly squeezed orange juice and a carton of store bought OJ. They are technically the same thing. They look the same, smell the same, taste the same. They may even have come from the same source, but one has been pasteurized, the pulp has been strained, a little food coloring has been added to make it more appealing. In the immortal words of Mr. Miagi, they were "the same, but different."

The spirit man looked at Lihn and back at Noodle. Obviously, two different people. There was Noodle with her tom-boy fashion and childish antics, and Lihn was definitely all woman, but if he closed his eyes, he couldn't tell one from the other. The vibes twisted and intermingled until he couldn't tell the difference. In fact they seemed to turn into one. He'd never come across anything like it before. It was disconcerting, if he'd had living flesh it would have given him goose bumps.

He was suddenly jerked out of thought by a slap on the shoulder, "Nice view, eh?" it was 2-D. He was unabashedly ogling Lihn as she swam.

"Jeezus 'D, ya almost scared me to life." he said putting a hand to his chest.

2-D laughed. "Relax, Blood. No boogie-men round here."

"Don't count on it, Man." Del replied but 2-D was already cannon balling into the pool.

The sun was getting lower in the sky. He'd enjoyed watching the others at play, they'd spent the day laughing and chatting but 2-D and Noodle had gone inside over an hour ago to find something to eat. Now Del was just sitting at the side of the pool, watching her.

Lihn was floating on a blow up raft, her skin had darkened as the day wore on but never picked up the redness of a sun burn. The raft drifted lazily in the small current made by the filter. Her eyes were closed and Del thought she'd fallen asleep. He was considering going back to his spirit form. It was tiring holding a physical form for so many hours and he hadn't really discovered anything about the mysterious woman except that she could swim, was remarkably good at 'marco polo', had a nice laugh, and seemed completely oblivious to 2-D's obvious crush on her. He supposed she didn't really seem that sinister, but she was definitely lying about who she was.

He was just beginning to let go of himself when her voice stopped him. "I really was hoping to spend some time with Russel today." she opened her eyes and looked at the ghostly young man.

He stood and put a hand to the back of his head, "Uh, yea, sorry bout dat." he let his arm drop to his side. "Course, he'll probably be up most o' da night now. I gotta get some rest m'self."

"That sounds like a good idea." Her raft had drifted close to the near side of the pool and she reached toward him, "Give me a hand?"

He looked at her warily then shrugged and reached out to pull her up. Her hand was warm, he could _feel_ her skin against his hand. He lifted her with no effort and she stepped onto the patio. His features twisted in confusion, "What are you?" he asked holding onto her hand.

Lihn looked into his glowing eyes and turned her head to the side as if she were considering. He looked at their hands as she covered his with her free one. "I understand that it is difficult for you." She said slowly. "Your life was stolen from you. I imagine things were not easy for you before that." He looked back at her face which was full of compassion. "I know you must be in constant fear that the Collector will find you." her face grew serious and her voice dropped to a whisper. "And he will. No soul can hide forever." Fear stirred within Del at her words but her face softened and her voice returned to normal. "All that aside, let us consider that I may not be whom I claim. What if I had a reason to lie that did not concern you? Or what if I AM who I say I am and something else as well?"

"Yea? Then, what?" he was still marveling at that he could feel her.

The woman exhaled loudly and turned to walk toward the lounge chairs, "I am saying, my dear, that not all mysteries need solving."

"Well, 'course you're gonna say that. You the one that don' want found out!" He watched her spread her towel on the chair then settle down.

She put her sunglasses on her face and lay back getting comfortable, "You are hopeless, Delayne! Now go on, I want Russel to 'catch me' sunbathing." she lifted her glasses and winked at her adversary.

He scoffed thinking how slow his friend was to catch the obvious, "Why dontchoo just get naked and sit in his lap? Might catch his attention quicker."

She pulled her glasses off and sat forward with a straight face, "You don't think that would be too forward?"

Del busted out with a great loud laugh, "Maybe you ain't so bad." he conceded as he faded into a mist and disappeared into Russel. He settled comfortably in his corner of Russel"s head and cleared his consciousness.

Russel opened his eyes and immediately shut them again. The sun hung in the sky at the perfect angle to blind him. He put a hand up to block it out and swung his legs to the side of the lounge chair. He could feel the pattern of the chair weave embedded in his skin. "Damn, how long was I out?"

"Quite a while." came the reply.

His eyes focused on the speaker. Lihn's chair was reclined all the way and she was lying on her side facing him, her head propped in her hand. His eyes widened at the sight of her cleavage trying to escape it's yellow prison. She rolled to her back and stretched, reaching her arms way above her head and arching her back. She gave out that satisfied moan that always comes with a good stretch. Russel was trying hard to keep his jaw off the ground as his eyes followed the curves of her body. "I was just about to go in and find a something to eat. Care to join me, Sleeping Beauty?"

As if on queue his stomach grumbled and Lihn smiled. "Yea, that don' sound like a bad idea." he chuckled, "I just can't believe I slept that long."

Lihn got up from her chair, slipped into her shoes and picked up her towel. "There _were_ extenuating circumstances. I got to meet your friend." she crossed the small space between chairs and pulling off her sunglasses bent to look into Russel's eyes as if she could see Del behind them, "I wonder where he goes. He said he needed to rest."

She was uncomfortably close. He couldn't stop thinking about the other night, when they kissed. He cleared his throat and shifted his eyes looking for a distraction, they snapped back to hers after accidentally looking down her top. "I dunno, sometimes he's right here with me, like I'm totally conscious of him. But other times it's like he's just at the back of my mind. Like being in the room with someone who's sleeping. They're there, but it's still like bein alone." he explained.

"So are you alone now?" Her eyes seemed to focus on his rather than trying to look through them. She placed her hands on his knees to steady herself.

"Yup, it's just me." he said leaning toward her.

"Good." she said just before their lips touched. He held on to her wrists, running a thumb across her smooth skin as they kissed. After a moment Lihn pulled back, "It is as I thought."

"What?" Russel was suddenly worried that he'd done something wrong.

Lihn stood and smiled. "I was worried that the other night the marijuana had affected my senses." she reached out a hand and Rus took it getting to his feet. "But you really _are_ a good kisser." she looked up into his face.

He chuckled feeling relieved. "Sure you don't wanna make sure?" he asked playfully pulling her closer.

"Perhaps I should, just to be safe." She grinned crinkling her nose and kissed him again, deeper this time. She slid one hand up and held on to the back of his neck and his hands rested on her waist. Russel was beginning to think it could lead to a bit more when Murdoc's voice ruined the moment.

"Oi, get a room, you're gonna make our guests ill!" He'd come through the patio doors with five people the native New Yorker had never seen before. They all had drinks in they're hands and were laughing with their host.

"Yo, better watch it, Muds!" Russel began, but Lihn put a hand on his arm.

"Let us just go, I'm still hungry anyhow." she was talking to Russel but staring at Murdoc and his guests with an angry look as they walked toward the patio.

"Yea, all right." Russel replied.

Murdoc grunted as Russel punched his arm when they passed each other. The dark haired man shot Lihn a look as she stifled a chuckle. She just shook her head as she Russel continued in to the house.


	9. Chapter 9 Secrets

A/N: Wicked short chapter, but here it is. As always, read, review, enjoy!

Chapter** 9**

Lihn woke up and stretched. Her hand hit something warm and soft, cracking an eyelid, she saw Russel's sleeping form. _So much for taking it slow._ she told herself. They'd spent the evening talking over drinks in the ruckus room. Russel told her how he'd met Murdoc and 2-D. "My first encounter with Murdoc was probably when the bag went over my head." he chuckled, "I was working at Big Rick Black's record shack. He asked me for some obscure record I barely remembered hearin' about. As soon as I turned my back he slipped the sack over my head and bundled me out of the shop. I nearly killed him when he let me loose a Kong, but he played me some stuff and I could tell he knew what he was talking bout." the big man shrugged, "so I stayed." Then he told her about Noodle's arrival at the studio, matching the scene she'd seen playing in his head the day she'd met him. He smiled a lot when he spoke of Noodle, like a proud parent. He'd told her how talented the girl was, how they shared a love of video games and pizza. She took note when he mentioned that she'd started having nightmares when they were on they're last tour. He chalked it up to being over worked, but Lihn had her own suspicions, and planed to ask the girl about it herself.

But right now all she wanted to think about was the warm body next to her. She rolled onto her side to face him and noticed the ghostly figure standing by the bed glaring at her. She frowned in disappointment. "Have a good night?" he asked sarcastically.

"Sorry you missed it?" she asked grinning at him. She rolled the other way and got out of the bed, not bothering to cover her nakedness. "You _did_ miss it, didn't you?" she cocked an eyebrow. He looked indignant, "Course I did. I ain't no pervert." he didn't prove his point by letting his eyes travel down her body, but suddenly he turned his ghostly head toward the corner of the room. "D'you see dat?" "Yes. I did." Lihn answered as she pulled her skirt up. A shadowy figure had darted out of the wall and through another. It was smaller than Noodle but humanoid shaped. "Let us look for it." She pulled her shirt on and started for the door but stopped when Del didn't move. "Kinasai!" she caught herself, "I mean, come with me."

The ghostly young man looked uncertain. "I can't go to far from Rus." Lihn looked more closely using her 'special' vision. "I see no tether…"

"S'not that, I jus… if I run inta the Collector and I'm too far away…"

Lihn looked at him sympathetically. "You know it will not matter." she walked around the bed and touched his arm, it felt cool under her warm skin. "If He finds you, Russel cannot stop him." she took his hand and looked him seriously, "But I can. Kinasai." she tugged his hand and led him from the room. They walked down the hallway, Lihn letting her intuition guide her. She turned the two corners that took her to the front of the house, where her and Noodle's rooms were. It was also were the library doors were and the small Asian-looking woman felt herself drawn toward the large double doors.

"I think it's in there." Del confirmed her feeling nodding toward the ornate doors. They were headed toward them when Lihn sensed someone approaching. She wasn't sure why but she felt the urge to hide. "Someone's coming!" she said quietly and pulled the ghost through her bedroom door. Once on the other side, she opened it a crack so that she could peek out. The library doors opened and Murdoc swanned out followed by his, now usual, entourage. He surreptitiously glanced down the hallway, presumably to check for on-lookers. None of his crowd noticed the glance as they fought for attention. One fellow in particular caught Lihn's eye, and not just because he was a midget. And not because of the Jesus-like beard either. He had a strange vibe to him. "Who is that?" Lihn whispered. She watched as the group of people headed out of her sight and down the stairs. "Did you see that guy?" she asked turning toward her companion.

He was staring at her, his expression unreadable. "How'd you do that?" he demanded of her.

She shook her head and brushed her dark hair from her face, "What are you talking about?"

"You went through the door." He said pointing at the solid piece of wood. "I'm a ghost, I can pass through stuff, but you…? What are you?" _Shit_! Lihn's heart beat faster. Sometimes when she panicked she forgot to hide her Talents. She hadn't even realized that she'd phased. "Delayne, please, you must be mistaken."

He drew back as she reached for his arm, "Why can I _feel_ you touchin' me? And how d'you know my full name? I din't tell it to you. Rus don't even know dat!" The woman who was not human put her hands over her face. "Chikusho!" She couldn't believe that she'd messed up already. She'd managed to be Dr. Nori Lihn the scientist for almost thirty years without screwing up.

"Nuttin' to say?" he asked her sarcastically. "S'what I thought. I gotta go chat wit Rus." He moved to go past her but she reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Wait, Del!" He paused, staring at her hands on his arm. "Please! Don't say anything, please? I swear to you, I am no danger."

"Then what _are_ you? And why are you here?" he tore his gaze from his arm to her face and looked at her sternly.

She looked back at him stubbornly. "I do not want to tell you. Bad things happen when people find out."

"Let me guess, people die?" he asked sarcastically.

"Sometimes!" she snapped. "Sometimes good people! People that don't deserve it, people that should have lived!" as she spoke her voice changed subtly. She lost the Japanese accent and sounded as though she were inside of his head rather than staring him in the face. "Sometimes, it seems like an accident. Other times, it is most certainly deliberate. At first, I thought what I had was a gift! But all to soon, I began to learn that it is a curse. I try to hide it, try to avoid the bad things." Her voice suddenly returned to normal, "That is why I need you to keep quiet about this." She looked at him pleadingly, "I only want a chance to be happy." she searched his glowing eyes, would he by it? Not that it wasn't true,… relatively. Every time she told the truth to people she became close to, things would turn sour. Something would happen and she would have to move on. She would start all over again. Like last time. Only she hadn't told _Them_ the truth. They'd spied on her, stolen it from her, and then she was forced to take care of the mess they'd made. Memories of pained cries and pleading voices filled her mind,

Del's voice brought her back to the present. "All right. I won't say nothing'." He'd placed a hand over one of hers where it rested on his arm. He was gently stroking her skin, marveling at the feel of it. He realized she was watching him and stopped, pulling free of her grip. "I won't say anything' fer now. But anything shady goes down, I'm callin' you out!"

"Thank you!" Lihn was relieved, but he was looking at her oddly.

"Yea, well, I gotta go." He turned to go.

"Wait! What of the shadow? Will you not help me seek it?"

"Naw, I gotta get back, Rus'll be awake soon and he'll wonder what's up." he shrugged, "Later." He slipped through the wall beside the door and left the Japanese woman standing.

She sighed, exasperated, but turned to leave the room, remembering to open the door first this time. She was going to solve this mystery. It would be easier to focus on the Noodle issue if she wasn't worrying about this shadow slipping around the mansion. Her door was directly across form the doors to the game room, which was next to the library.

She walked the short distance to the large library doors and hesitated. She no longer sensed the 'thing', but had a distinct feeling that it had entered here. She pushed one of the doors open and stepped inside. It was just as it had been the first day she entered. No evidence of it's previous occupants remained. Lihn was surprised. She'd expected a few empty glasses or bottles at the least. Perhaps a few discarded cigarette butts, that Murdoc smoked like a stack!

But there was nothing. Not even the smell of alcohol or smoke. There was a faint musk like an old ladies perfume, but she put that down to someone's poor choice in aftershave. The small woman walked around the room, absently trailing her hand along the shelves and the book bindings. She was about to give up thinking she'd hit a dead end, when she felt a slight change. She paused and concentrated. The air moved slightly right in _this_ spot.

The strange woman leaned closer to the book shelf built into the wall of the room. The musky cologne smell grew stronger. She was about to start exploring with her 'other' sense when the door handle moved slightly. Her head snapped in that direction and her heart beat faster. Quickly she popped over to the other side of the room and grabbed a book from the shelf. She opened it and flipped a few of the pages.

Murdoc entered the room grumbling under his breath. He stopped short when he noticed Lihn in the room. "What are you doin' here?"

She turned slightly in his direction and looked up at him. She figured she could easily avoid any serious questions simply by flirting with him. She flashed him a smile, "Oh! Hello, Mr. Niccals. I did not notice the door opening." She closed the cover on the thin book she was holding and glanced down at it, quickly reading the title. "I thought I left my phone in here." he claimed as he crossed the room to where she was standing, looking around the room casually, as if he knew his phone wouldn't be found. When he drew close enough, he reached out and took the book from her hands, "What are you reading', eh? Dr. Suess?" he asked with a grin.

"At the Mountains of Madness." she replied, grateful that she'd taken a moment to read the title. Lihn knew the story well. It was about a group of scholars that went to Antarctica and discovered the remains of ancient life forms, then some crazy stuff went down, the memory made her shiver slightly. She put her arms behind her, leaning on the bookshelf there trying to hide the involuntary movement. She made sure that Murdoc had a good view of her chest.

"Lovecraft, mm? Didn't figure you for a worshiper of the Elder Gods." he smirked as he looked her up and down.

"Ha!" she laughed humorlessly, "Worshiper? More like an avoider of!" She clamped her mouth shut quickly, perhaps she shouldn't have said that. After all these years, one would think she'd learn to control her mouth! Hopefully he would think she was joking.

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. He laid the book on the shelf and pulled a pack of fags from his shirt pocket and shook one out. He put it to his lips and patted his pockets. Absently, Lihn pulled a lighter out of her bra and handed it to him. He used it and handed it back before speaking again. "Who _Do _you worship, then? Me?, I'm a Satanist. Sold my soul for the best band in the world." He leaned against the bookshelf casually. "So what's it fer you? Saints and crosses? Bloody sacrifices, Dancing naked in the moonlight, tantric sex rituals?" he winked at her.

Lihn groaned inwardly, but kept a smile on her face. It was too bad he was such a jerk, he was really quite handsome. She looked him up and down before answering. "I'll let you know when I figure it out." she winked.

"Atheist?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, no." she said seriously, "I _know _the gods exist. I simply have not found one worthy yet."

He looked at her for a moment with out saying anything, then he stepped uncomfortably close. He was about a head taller than her, she looked up into his face with a fake expression of intimidation. "There's something' odd about you." he looked into her bright green eyes as if he would find what he was looking for in them. "I don' know what it is, but I'll find out." he stepped back and took a drag off his cigarette, "The only reason I invited you on this little trip is 'cos I'm curious. I still think you're after somethin'. You may have the others fooled, but not me." he turned toward the exit and flipped his ashes in the carpet, "I've got my eye on you, kid. Murdoc Niccals doesn't miss a thing."

_ You forgot to pretend you couldn't find your phone._ she thought. She picked up the discarded volume and ran her hand lovingly over the cover remembering her old friend from a different a different lifetime. People were so foolish, convincing themselves that Howard had created the whole pantheon. She shook her head as she put the book back in it's place. Sighing she brought her attention back to the situation at hand.

Looking toward the door she assured herself that Murdoc was not returning. She rounded the couch and found herself back in front of the suspicious shelf. The wall she was in front of was on the opposite side of the house from the game room. It should have been a boring wall, shouldn't it? But no. Why were there no windows? There was definitely a slight draft coming from this direction. She stepped back and took in the whole wall. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

But the she noticed the carpet. The gold colored fibers had that swept look that is sometimes left by the vacuum cleaner, only this started at the wall and arced outward… _as if a door had been opened._

She began to search the shelf again, this time looking for something that might be a lever or a switch. There were little statuettes and nick-knacks here and there on all of the shelves but one in particular caught her eye. It was made of bronze. While most of the others were made of gold or silver, or some other shiny metal, this one sat inconspicuously not sparkling on a shelf above her head. It was shaped like a teardrop and carved into the bottom half was a symbol. It was shaped almost like an 'S'. It was a rune. Lihn thought for a moment. _The guide leads you to the doorway, then waits for your return. _Sowilo: the rune of guidance and success.

Lihn smiled in satisfaction and reached up for the object and wrapped her fingers around it. It was attached to the shelf! Standing on her tip toes, she attempted to tilt it forward, like a lever, the way they do in all of the movies, but it wouldn't budge. She tried leaning it in every direction to no avail. She tried pushing it down, like a button, still nothing. She settled back on her heels to think, not loosening her grip quickly enough and the metal object turned. Lihn's heart leapt. Quickly she reached up and twisted the thing. She almost fell as a portion of the wall began to silently swing outward.

The musky smell over-powered her nostrils. She stepped through the dark opening and let her eyes adjust. The smell of hot wax mixed with the scent of incense. She felt the wall to her left and flipped the switch her fingers found. She caught her breath as she realized why Murdoc had been sneaking. The wood floor was marked with a large circle surrounding a pentagram. A large candlestick covered in runes stood at each of the stars points, the large black and red candles still smoking. A ring of salt sat at the center which was blackened as if it had been scorched. "Fucking Satanists!" she breathed. Always screwing around with things better left alone.

There was a set of shelves against one wall. She wandered over to it, careful to go around the summoning circle. It was cluttered with clay pots and strangely shaped glass bottles. More black and red candles lay on the shelf, waiting to be used. The incense burner sat with a box of extra incense. Lihn's gaze jerked back to the other side of the box. _Murdoc's lighter. _That must have been what he was returning for. It was certainly his, it was a Zippo brand lighter with 'Murdoc is God' printed on it. She picked it up and turned to look at the rest of the room. There were dusty tapestries on the walls depicting people in robes doing various 'cult-like' things together. She shook her head. She new that Murdoc claimed to be a Satanist, even going so far as to wear an inverted cross everyday, but she had thought it was his gimmick. The shadow she'd seen must be something he summoned.

_And he probably did it just to impress those fast women!_ she thought. _He's put us all in danger so that he can get laid. _She was furious. She wasn't sure which was worse, him accidentally releasing a demon to impress girls or him doing it on purpose. She was definitely going to have a word with him.


	10. Chapter 10

** A/N:** Sorry it's been so long. A lot of 'life-y' stuff has been happening. SO here's chapter ten. Enjoy, there is more to come!

** Chapter 10**

Lihn left the library the way she'd found it, save for Murdoc's lighter which was biting into her fist. She was angry. If the bassist was really a Satanist, as he claimed to be, then he should have known better than to be summoning things. Especially without telling everyone in the house so that they could be prepared! There was a child in the house, for crying out loud!

As she came to the bottom of the stairs, 2D came from the hallway to the right and almost went out the door without seeing Lihn. He stopped with his hand on the door and turned toward her smiling. "Morning, Lihn!"

Her expression softened for him, "Ohayou, Stuart. Going out?" She asked him. "Yea. Murdoc says we need to get out inna public eye. Says it'll make "Hollywood come to us". Or sum fink like 'at." he shrugged. "You wanna come? You ain't been out inna couple days."

Lihn managed to keep a smile on her face but inside she was furious. Murdoc was getting away! She _could_ go with them, but she always felt like an outsider when they when out. She'd gotten used to isolation over the past years. Being mobbed by ecstatic fans was a bit out of her comfort zone at the moment. Besides, she didn't want to confront him about this in public. "No, arigato. I will stay and catch up on some reading."

The lanky man's face fell, "You sure? I can get them to wait if you need to get ready." he offered, hopefully. "Really, I am all right. Thank you." then a thought occurred to her, "Is Russel going with you?" she had not seen him since this morning when she'd slipped out of his room. 'D's smile got bigger, "Yea, and he's pretty angry! Murdoc bullied him out wif no breakfast." he laughed. "So, I'm sure we'll be stopping for sum fink to eat. Sure you won' come?" he tried again.

Lihn shook her head, feeling a bit disappointed at missing Russel. "Yes, I am sure. Have a nice time." 2-D shrugged and went out the door looking crest fallen but Lihn didn't notice being preoccupied with her own thoughts.

She headed down the hallway to the dining room to see what the cook had laid out for breakfast. Upon entering the room she wasn't surprised to find Murdoc's groupies. _Don't these people have homes?_ she thought. Since the first day she'd seen them following Murdoc around they hadn't left the mansion. Or maybe they had and new ones had come in. Lihn really hadn't paid that much attention. Either way, here they were and these were the people that had been in the secret room with Murdoc…

No one seemed to take notice of her as she rounded the table to the buffet stand. She looked over the trays of eggs and bacon and was just reaching for a piece of fruit when a voice at her side startled her. "What's that you've got there?"

She jumped a bit wondering how he'd managed to creep up on her. "What?" She asked the little man. It was the midget she'd noticed earlier. She'd almost forgotten about the lighter she still clutched in her hand. She looked the guy over, she supposed 'midget' wasn't really the right word for him, though he _was_ shorter than her. He had long hair and full beard, making it difficult to guess his age, and was dressed in what was supposed to look like hippy clothes but obviously came from a high priced store. Lihn didn't like the feel she was getting from this guy.

"I said, what's that you've got there?" his voice had a strange tone to it, but it quickly changed as if he noticed that it was bothering her. "I could hold your plate if you need a hand." he tried to amend.

Lihn immediately decided that she didn't like him. Quickly she threw an illusion and showed him a purple, knock-off Zippo with a panda on it. "Oh," she tried to sound absent minded, "I was going to have a cigarette but I was out, so I decided to have breakfast instead." she lied and flashed him a fabulous smile.

She could tell he was disappointed, but his demeanor quickly changed and pulled a pack of Camels out of his pocket. "You just should have asked, I'm happy to share." he handed her a cigarette and putting down her pear, she lit it and tucked the lighter in her bra. "You're Noodle's Mom aren't you?"

Lihn blew out a stream of smoke before answering, "Her aunt, Dr. NoriLihn." she said exaggerating her accent and put out her free hand.

He shook it limply and pulled his hand back quickly, "oh, yea. Her _aunt_. Of course." he chuckled, Lihn didn't know why but he was giving her the creeps. "I'm Jimmy. Come on, I'll introduce you to the gang." Lihn racked her brain for an excuse to leave, but wasn't quick enough. "Hey guys! This is Lihn, she's Noodle's aunt." He began pointing to people around the table, "This is Genny, Allen, Sugar, Kevin, the Kellys, that's Cindy, and Heather." individuals waved or nodded as they were pointed out. The uncomfortable woman didn't really catch any of the names but waved back just the same.

"Come sit over here!" one of the Kellys spoke up excitedly. Lihn reluctantly made her way round the table and took a seat next to the bubbly, brown-haired, young woman. "It must be so exciting living with rock stars all the time!" she gushed.

"Do you get to travel everywhere with them?" the other Kelly asked placing a well manicured hand on her arm.

"Forget that," the dark-skinned girl called Sugar said, "how many of them have you screwed?" she asked with an impish grin.

"Sugar!" Jimmy butted in. "That's not very polite."

She waved her hand at him dismissively, "Aw, chill out, Jimmy, inquiring minds want to know." she laughed.

The Japanese woman's skin took on a pinkish hue, "Uh, I haven't lived with them long, we just met, actually." she took a drag off her cigarette and glanced around looking for a way to change the subject. "Is there any coffee?" The blonde haired, tall boy stood up. "Yea, I'll get you some." he said eagerly. "Cream and sugar?" he asked as he moved toward the side board.

"Hai, Origato ." she nodded. "Wow." said a blonde haired girl wearing too much make-up and a tube top, "Like, where are you from?" she asked.

"Fukushima." Lihn replied without hesitation. _"Now, why did I say that? I could have made anything up." _She internally scolded herself as the others giggled at the pronunciation of the foreign word.

"That's in Japan, Heather." Jimmy said in response to the blonde girl's confused expression. The Japanese woman eyed him curiously as she accepted the cup of coffee from the tanned young man. Fukushima wasn't un-heard of but it wasn't really a tourist-y area either. "Have you been, Jimmy?"

"No, just keeping up on interests." He answered without explaining anything. He smiled eerily at her.

There was something odd about this fellow and Lihn didn't like it. She stood, "Well, I think I will get on with my day, nice having met you all."

She took her cup and turned to go but the first Kelly took her by the arm, "Don't go! We're all going down the hall, Jimmy's promised to play his guitar for us."

"Yes!" The second Kelly appeared at her other side, "You should come with us. It'll be fun!" There was a chorus of agreement and Lihn found herself being swept down the hall toward the great room.

She found herself nestled on a red, vinyl couch between the two Kellys, who seemed to have taken a fondness to her. The others settled themselves on couches and over-stuffed ottomans while Jimmy tuned his acoustic guitar.

The uncomfortable woman was seriously wishing she'd taken 2-D up on his offer and gone with him. It only got worse when Jimmy began singing as he played. It was like a karaoke version of a Donovan song. Lihn was careful to keep a straight face, but found it comical that these people thought so highly of his skill. How could they be around such accomplished musicians and still find this appealing?

The answer came round soon enough, on a small mirror. And then again in a pipe. And then in several bottles. Lihn turned it down each time it was offered. She had no opposition to drug or alcohol use, hell if people wanted to screw themselves up that was their business, but she tried to avoid using in the company of people she wasn't comfortable with. She tended to let things slip when under the influence and she didn't trust these people.

Sure, they seemed friendly enough, but this was Murdoc's crowd. It was just this morning that he'd threatened to 'find her out'. For all she knew, he'd set them up to keep an eye on her. She'd have to keep on her toes around them, especially that Jimmy.

There was something odd about him. Her senses all told her that he was human, but that didn't mean he couldn't be dangerous, especially if he was messing around with the occult. He'd finished another awful song and was putting his guitar down to a chorus of protests.

"Now, now," he placated, "I don't want to be rude to our new friend. Let's get know her a bit." He smiled at her but it didn't seem to reach his eyes. "You play a bit, don't you?" he gestured toward the spindly legged piano in the room, "Perhaps you could play something for us."

"Oh, no…" Lihn, protested, wondering how he'd known, "I am very out of practice. It would be embarrassing." she couldn't figure out what his agenda was. Or if he even had one…

"Oh, please!" the Kelly to her left pleaded "we'd love to hear you play."

The slight woman glanced at the eager faces around her and sighed. She _did_ enjoy playing, and it had been quite a while since she had. She scooted herself to the edge of the couch and Jimmy offered her a hand up. She took it hesitantly.

The moment she did, dark images flashed in her mind. She couldn't really make out what they were. Dark faces and sharp teeth flashed before her lit by flickering flames. Lihn snatched her hand back quickly.

"I'm sorry." The little man said, not sounding sorry at all. "I must have shocked you. Sandals on the carpet and all."

She scowled at him, "Yes. The carpet." He knew very well that he hadn't shocked her. What was he playing at?

"Please." he gestured toward the piano again. "Play for us."

She felt a bit like a trapped animal. Glancing around at the others, she moved toward the piano. The blank expressions on their faces made her believe that they had no idea what had just transpired. Were they 'in' on whatever was going on, or were they just blind followers?

She lay her small hands on the piano keys. The smooth surface was comforting. There was something about music that was a power all it's own. Slowly she plunked a few notes, familiarizing herself with the instrument. Then she moved into an old traditional Japanese tune. She remembered hearing it some years ago, when she was Dr. Lihn, the scientist.

The boss had insisted that she take a short holiday, that she was under a lot of stress and needed to relax. _Ha!_ Of course, now she knew the real reason he'd wanted her gone, but she'd gone to one of the smaller villages on the island, where the old ways were still held in high regard. It was during some festival or other and the song had been played on a string instrument and a flute, but it worked well on the piano. She could almost smell the night air and see the lanterns floating on the water.

She glanced up at her audience, humming with the music she played. They seemed to be entranced as they listened, as if they too could see her vision. All except for Jimmy. He was watching her with a disappointed look. Like a child who was expecting ice cream and got a lollipop instead. Had he wanted her to embarrass herself? Or had he been expecting something else?

If Murdoc really had set them to watch her, perhaps he'd been hoping to catch her using her Talent, but she didn't need it to play piano. That was something she'd actually learned to do on her own. There were quite a few things she'd learned over the years. Long life was nice, but it could get boring at times so she'd started learning things. Thus, she could play a variety of instruments, knit, embroider, sew… she was a fair blacksmith, carpenter, and upholsterer. She was an excellent cook and had mastered many other skills. He'd have to try harder if he wanted to catch her slipping. Besides, he probably wasn't even sure what he was looking for.

She finished her song and he was the first to applaud. The others joined him slowly as they woke from their collective reverie. "Lovely." Jimmy said through his fake smile. "I see where Miss Noodle gets her talent." There were nods of agreement and murmurs of approval from around the room. "How old is Noodle?" Jimmy asked.

The curious woman was taken a bit off guard by the question. "Juu ichi, er, eleven, I think." She caught herself. The Japanese was still coming easier than the English. She supposed it would take a while to get used to speaking it as her main language again.

He looked thoughtful, "So, young. It must be difficult for her."

"Difficult, why?" Lihn was utterly confused by the change in topic. She stood and came round to lean on the front of the piano.

"Well, you know? The life of a professional musician is rough." he explained. "Hours of practice, long hours writing and recording. Then there's the traveling. Being cooped up on tour buses and planes. Not to mention trying to squeeze in schooling." He shook his hairy head. "When does she find time to be a child and have friends?"

Lihn wasn't sure what to say. "She seems to be coping quite well."

He nodded his head, "Sure, sure. But they always do, don't they? Then one day you open the door to find an empty bottle of pills and a…" He looked at Lihn quickly, "Of course, I don't mean that will happen to her!"

She raised an eyebrow, "But your saying it's a possibility?"

"I'm saying, no one would blame you if you decided she should leave the band." he looked to the others for support and they all murmured agreement as if on cue.

"_He is trying to get rid of Noodle?"_ She stepped away from the piano saying, "Thank you for your concern, but I am certain Noodle is quite happy where she is." she looked around at each of their faces, "Excuse me, There are things I must be getting to."

The small man stepped in her path looking as intimidating as he could muster. "You really should consider it. There's no telling when something unfortunate might befall her." He said threateningly. A chorus of "You should consider it." echoed behind her. The eight others had formed a semi-circle around her, their expressions blank as they echoed their ring leader.

Rage flashed in the fake human's eyes. He was threatening her?! She turned her glare back to the short man. "You have no idea whom you are talking to." she hissed. "I suggest you tread carefully, lest something unfortunate befall _you_." She stepped around him fighting the urge to fry him, leaving nothing but a greasy spot on the carpet and the smell of burnt hair.

She stormed out of the room and up the hall toward the stairway. As she came round the back of the stairwell, the front door opened and Noodle, 2-D and Russel jostled into the foyer dripping rain water. "Didn't even check the damn weather…" Russel was grousing. His expression brightened when he saw Lihn heading toward him, but fell when he sensed her mood. "What's up, Girl?" he touched her trembling arm.

The incensed woman glanced toward the door. "Where is Mr. Niccals?" she demanded. "I must have a word with him concerning the company he keeps." her eyes flashed.

"He's parking the car in the garage." Russel's eyes suddenly turned angry as well, "Somebody try somethin' with you?"

She shook her head, "I will explain later." she turned to her adopted niece, "Noodle, you would do well to avoid strangers in this house." Looking at 2-D and back to Russel, she said, "Keep an eye on her, please."

"You talkin' bout those weirdo's whot been hanging out wiff Murdoc?" the lanky man asked, but Lihn didn't answer. She turned back the way she'd come, but headed for the kitchen which led to the garage.

As she stepped in the kitchen, she nearly stopped in her tracks. There he was, flirting with one of the kitchen staff when she entered the room. The girl was leaning back against the counter and both hands behind her, gripping the edges. He was leaning over her, supporting himself by one hand on the counter behind the girl. His Wet hair hung about his face, framing his oddly mis-matched eyes, one red the other such a dark grey, it was almost black. _"Damn, he is good-looking! Too bad he's such a dick…" _Even soaking wet, he managed to look dashing and the young woman he'd been chatting up looked very disappointed when Lihn interrupted them. "Excuse me, Mr. Niccals. A word?"

"Rude. There's a word for you." He looked at her in irritation but said to the girl, "Catch ya lata', Sunshine? Gotta take care of 'is." he winked at her and she giggled before scurrying away. He ran a hand through his wet locks as he turned to fiery woman. "So whot's got yer knickers in a twist, butler tell ya at change the sheets again?"

"It's about one of your guests." she said ignoring his jibes.

"Yea? Which one?" he pulled a squashed pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket and put one to his lips.

"The short one, with the beard, Jimmy." she spat.

"Wee Jimmy Manson? He's alright." he was patting his pockets looking for a light.

Lihn pulled his Zippo from her bra, "Looking for this?"

He reached for it, "Yea, tha…" he stopped mid 'thank you' as he remembered where he'd left it and where he'd run into her that morning. His eyes narrowed as his fingers wrapped around the lighter and her hand. He glanced around at the busy kitchen and said, "Come to my office." He slipped the lighter from her fingers and lit his cigarette as he left the kitchen followed by small, Japanese woman.

His office was at the front of the house, opposite the sitting room. It was occupied by rich, leather chairs a matching couch, and a heavy, dark stained desk. He shut the door behind them and crossed the room to lean on the front of the desk. Lihn crossed her arms and waited impatiently as he squashed his cigarette butt in an ash tray and pulled another from the pack. "want one?" he offered.

She seemed to consider for a moment. "Yes. Thank you." she said shortly. He held the lighter while she lit one then lit his own. He exhaled noisily before asking, "So you found us out, eh?"

"What ever you are doing in there you need to stop." she referred to the secret room she'd found earlier that morning. "What ever you let out is probably dangerous and you need to put it back." she began, "And you need to put that Jimmy out of the house and never let him back!"

The middle-aged man took a step forward, "Hold it, Sister. First off, It's my house, I don' take orders." he took another drag, "Second, Don' you concern yourself with what goes on 'in there'." he nodded in the direction of the library. "I told you I'm a Satanist, it ain't no secret. I didn't get 'is band by accident and I ain't gonna lose it that way either. So, you just tend to your own business. And third," he took another drag, and his demeanor changed from intimidating to conversational. "What did Jimmy do?"

Lihn was exasperated but answered him, "I do not know why, but he seems to want Noodle out of your band." she crossed to the desk and smashed her cigarette in the ash tray. "He suggested that I insist on her leaving or 'unfortunate' things might happen to her."

Murdoc snorted, "Little Jimmy Manson?" he asked incredulously. "He must have been kiddin' round."

"He was not!" she insisted. "He was quite serious. And if you do not take care of it, I will."

The bemused man raised his hands in defeat, "All right, calm down, I'll 'ave a chat with him, find out whot's up." he put an arm round her shoulders and steered her toward the door. "Now why don' you go on up to your room and pick out somethin' pretty, we're havin' company this evening. Girls like a lot of time to get ready, right?" he opened the door and patted her bottom as he passed through it, "There's a good girl." and with that, he moved down the hall, leaving an angry Lihn with her jaw hanging open in shock.


	11. Chapter 11

******A/N:** This one's from Murdoc's point of view. I enjoy seeing thing from inside the different characters heads. I hope I'm getting their personalities across well and that the story isn't wandering too much. Gimmee some input! And as always, enjoy!

** Chapter 11**

** camera one**

It was another gorgeous Californian night. They just didn't have nights like this in England. The stars were so bright they were visible through all the city lights. The moon hung in the air like piece of art. The air was just on the uncomfortable side of warm, giving the female guests the perfect excuse to wear as little clothing as possible.

Still. He was feeling a bit bored listening to the same gossip as yesterday. He'd half-heartedly chatted with the few directors that had shown up this evening, made pleasantries with almost all the guests, well, most of them. There seemed to be all the same hangers-on from the last party. He was looking for something new to catch his attention and hopefully keep him occupied tonight.

His eyes scanned the garden. There was a group of young women in the pool, batting a ball back and forth being eyed by an equally young group of guys hanging around the edge of the pool like jackals waiting to pounce. There was a mixed group of slightly older guests hanging around the small bar and grill beyond the pool. The smell of the kabobs reached his nose tantalizingly, but he was hungry for something else. Over there in the grass was Wee Jimmy and his little gaggle of hippy friends. _"Oh, Satan, he's got that stupid guitar."_ Jimmy looked up and noticing Murdoc, began waving for his attention but the bored attention seeker just rolled his eyes and turned away.

He looked toward the mansion and paused as Lihn stepped through the patio doors in a short flowery sundress, her hair was down and shown like silk in the light spilling from the doorway. He grinned as she stumbled a bit, almost dropping the glass in her hand, then he scowled as Russel came through right behind her, holding her hand. She turned her head toward her companion, laughing at something he'd said and Murdoc imagined he could hear her lilting voice from where he was standing. His eyes traveled down her body as she moved, and he concluded that he was hungry for Asian cuisine. He'd been serious when he said he thought she was after something and that he didn't think she was really who she claimed, but he seriously wanted to get her into the sack as well. It was part of the reason he'd invited her on this little adventure. He also figured Noodle might get a bit upset about losing the first lead into her past that they'd found, but mostly he wanted to 'hit that'.

The self-made leader of the band had spent the last week concentrating on networking for the movie he was wanting to make and he'd almost forgotten about his new quarry. Now she was spending way to much time with the American drummer. He had figured he was going to have to keep her away from ole Two Dents and was more than a bit surprised when he'd caught her snogging with Lardo the night before. And while his light-hearted teasing gotten a laugh from his guests, he didn't think it had won any points with Lihn. In fact, after their little 'meeting' this afternoon, he was pretty sure she hated him, which only made the game more interesting. Looked like he was going to have to start putting some effort into this chase.

He needed to find his hook so he was going to have to get to know her a bit. Sometimes just taking the time to act interested in a bird did the trick, but he could tell she wasn't going to be that easy. Intelligence _and_ looks weren't a combination he usually ran into to but he loved a challenge. _"First, I've got to get 'er away from Tubbs."_

He glanced around the garden at each of his guests. Was that Ike Turner chatting up that dark haired girl? Murdoc downed his drink and excused himself from the group he was standing with and made his way toward his guest. He knew that Russel, the musical connoisseur, was a fan of the old school musician. If he could get the two talking, he could draw Lihn away practically un-noticed.

It was child's play. He introduced Ike to Russel and the two were soon locked in a discussion about musical… something or others. Murdoc had stopped listening before they'd even started. He pretended to be interested for a few moments, waiting for the attractive Japanese woman to achieve that glassy-eyed look of polite dis-interest before making his first move.

He looked at the almost-empty glass in her hand. He moved close and nudged her with his elbow. "Come on, I'll pour you another drink." he said to her, gesturing toward the house. She looked at her new beau uncertainly. "He can go on like 'at fer hours." Murdoc explained, "He won't even notice you've gone." he took her by the elbow and she allowed him to steer her toward the house.

"I'm still angry, you know." she said matter-of-factly, giving him a stern look.

"Aw, come on, Doll. You can't be mad forever." he drawled. "Tell you whot, you can sit in on the next session, eh? You'll see, there's nothing' ta worry bout. And I talked to Jimmy," he lied, "Just a mis-understanding, like I said." she gave him a dis-believing look, but said nothing.

They stepped inside to the sounds of the piano being played. Apparently someone had coerced 2-D into playing for them on the spindle legged piano near the bar and the radio had been shut off to oblige, even voices seemed to be hushed as he played. Sure enough, there was a crowd of tanned, nubile bodies surrounding the piano, each trying to catch his eye as his fingers danced across the keys.

Lihn's gaze was drawn in his direction like a mosquito to a bug zapper, making her forget to be angry. "He plays very well. Hungarian Rhapsody, yes?"

"Yup, 'at's it." Murdoc groused, "He _always_ whips 'at shit out to impress the ladies. 'Sa bit disingenuous 'f you ask me. He was always grousing' 'bout how his Mum made him learn classical piano." He nodded his head toward the pianist surrounded by adoring girls, "You don' see 'im complaining now, do ya?"

She smiled broadly, "It is a good quality, being able to turn a negative into a positive."

He turned his dark head toward the piano, "Yea, 'D's always been good fer that." he nodded at the bartender who immediately pulled a bottle and two glasses of ice from below the bar and handed them over. "I mean, jus' look 'at those dents in 'is face. Any other man'd be ruined. Not 'D. He rocks them shits like a god." he shook his head, chuckling, "They actually made him _better_ lookin'!" he cackled as he made his way toward an empty yellow couch.

He sat placing the glasses on the coffee table and screwed the cap off the bottle. He glanced up at her. She was watching 2-D, slightly swaying in time to the music, humming and vocalizing softly to herself. Her right hand fidgeted with the seem of her sun dress. _Damn, she was fine!_ Her voice was lovely too. Maybe if he offered her a backing vocal line on one of their tracks she'd relax a bit with the whole 'Noodle thing'. He still needed to find out what was up with that.

She'd come all that way to supposedly find her niece then asked to stay with them? He thought she must be broke, looking for a free ride. Telling her to buy her own plane ticket to LA was a test to find out. Even then, he supposed she could have a bit saved up, after all, she'd made it to England from Japan, but when they hit Rodeo Drive she began spending money like it was water. He didn't even know where she was putting all the stuff.

Maybe she'd gotten in some kind of legal trouble and had to leave the Japan. But with the money she was throwing away she could've have gone anywhere. Maybe she really was the girls aunt. They _had_ been in Japan some months ago, she could have seen a tour poster or something, but there was still something fishy going on. He'd tried to talk to Noodle about it, but the girl was being all 'pre-teeny' lately, ice cream and sweets didn't do the trick anymore. And there was still the language thing, but that was getting better since her 'aunt' showed up. _"Guess I'll just 'ave to get closer to Lihn, and find out fer m'self."_ he thought devilishly.

"Sit with me." She looked as though she were going to change her mind and leave. "Come on, we 'aven't 'ad a chance to chat since we hit the States."

She still looked uncertain but she sat, accepting the proffered glass. She gave an approving look as she sipped from the glass. "Brandy, nice."

The rocker gave his own look of approval. "Was afraid you'd be one of those fruity, umbrella in the cup, kinda gals."

"There is nothing wrong with an umbrella in your cup, Mr. Niccals." she paused to sip from her cup. "If it is raining!" she smiled.

"Ha! Exactly." He laughed. He took a swallow and looked at her over the edge of his glass. "You're not what I expected from a lady scientist."

She adopted an attitude of annoyance, "Let me guess? It is because I am beautiful, young, and have a sense of humor, yes? Well, let me tell you something. First," she held up one finger, "I am not that young, and second," she held another finger aloft, "I was something besides a scientist, you know?"

"Yea? Whot?" he asked uncertainly, silently wondering how much she'd already had to drink.

"I was a person." she said quietly, all trace of annoyance gone. "I'm sorry, Murdoc." she looked at him sheepishly and put a hand on his arm apologetically. "I should not have snapped at you. But after so many years of being left out because 'she would not want to go' or 'she would not like that, she is too _science-y_'" she made a goofy face making her host laugh out loud. "I have become a bit bitter." she grinned wryly.

"_This could be my hook"_ he thought. "And whot sort of things did they leave you out of? Parties? Movies?"

Lihn took a deeper drink, feeling real annoyance at her memories. "Clubbing, karaoke, just going for a drink! What do these people think I do at home?"

"And whot do you do, luv?" he inched a bit closer each time he asked a question.

"Just normal things, I watch television, play video games, listen to music, you know, normal things." she shrugged.

"Whot kind of music do you love? I mean, besides Gorillaz, of course."

It was Lihn's turn to laugh. "I am sorry, I had never heard of your band before."

"Yea, that reminds me." Murdoc said, turning suddenly serious. "You say you've never heard of our band, but someone had the presence of mind to put Noodle in a crate and ship her to my address, with no memories and the only skill that was sure to make me wanna keep her round. Sounds a bit planned, don' it?"

Lihn looked thoughtful, "It does actually. Which only makes it more likely…" she seemed to be talking to herself.

"Makes whot 'more likely'?" he pressed.

Lihn looked as though she'd said something she hadn't meant to. "More likely than what?" she replied.

"Whot?" Murdoc was confused, "No, whot you said."

"What did I say?" Lihn looked confused as well.

"You said, it makes it more likely."

"More likely than what?"

"I don't know! _YOU_ said it."

While they'd been chatting someone had turned the radio back on and Mick Jagger was singing of his love for dark skinned girls. "Is that the Rolling Stones?" Lihn asked distracted. "I love them. I got to meet them once. May I have more brandy?" She held out her empty glass.

"Um. Yea." She kept right on talking as he poured more into her glass feeling as though he'd lost control of the situation.

"Do you know who else I have not listened to in a long time?" the tipsy woman asked, "The Clash! It has been ages since I have listened to a Clash album."

Murdoc perked up again, "You like The Clash?" she nodded sipping from her glass. "One of my favorites. I'd 'ave never took you fer a fan. Don' exactly fit the stero-type, eh?"

"Oh come on, Murdoc!" she gave him a playful shove, "Who does not like The Clash? They are so…" she seemed to flounder for a word, "real." she nodded, satisfied with her choice of word. Murdoc smiled genuinely. "I can hear their influence in some of your music."

"I thought you said you hadn't heard of us?"

"I had not, But Noodle gave me a disc to listen too. Well, two actually, she also gave me the G-Sides. She is quite proud of it."

Muds was more comfortable now, this was a subject he excelled in. "Ah, so whot's yer favorite, then?" he asked.

Her eyes seemed to un-focus as if she weren't seeing the room they were in. "Broken."

The rock star snorted, "Sorry, Luv, not one of ours."

She smiled a strange half-smile, "Because you haven't written it for me yet." her eyes re-focused and she gave her head a small shake. She looked at the glass in her hand as if wondering how it had gotten there then took a drink. She glanced up and noticed Murdoc staring at her amused. "I'm sorry, what were you saying? I seem to have had a bit too much to drink." she giggled.

"_Haven't written it for _her_ yet, hmmm?"_ Perhaps this would be easier than he thought. Girls were always hooking up with 'D and Rus, then discovering what they were missing. "Nothing important." he told her. "'Ere, whot say we dig up another team and go upstairs to the game room and knock some balls about." he winked at her, making her laugh again.

She seemed about to agree but her attention was snatched by something across the room. "Who is that young man that seems to be chatting up, Noodle-chan?"

Murdoc's head snapped in the direction she was looking, his eyes narrowed. "I don' know, but I'm gon' find out." he growled. He stood, lighting a cigarette and stalked in the young guitarist's direction.

"Noodle!" he called brightly, he walked up and put an arm round the shoulder's of the blonde, tanned young man. "Who's your friend 'ere?" He asked blowing smoke directly in the fellow's face.

Noodle only rolled her eyes and adopted a look of annoyance. Her 'friend' coughed a bit and answered, "Name's Zeke, Mr. Murdoc, Sir. It's a real pleasure to meet you!" he held up his right hand and the older man shook it without letting go of the boys shoulder's. " Noodle and I were just discussing how different your sound is compared to other popular songs today."

Murdoc feigned a look of interest, "Were you? How interesting." then his expression changed to one of annoyance, "Must 'ave been pretty one-sided, her not speaking English and all."

"She speaks well enough to get her point across." the boy smiled and winked at the young girl, making her blush.

Her guardian, however, was enraged. _The balls on this kid must be enormous!_ he couldn't believe the boy was flirting with her right in front him. His grip tightened on the skinny boys shoulders. ""At's good! Because if I thought you were trying to chat up my young, impressionable, _thirteen year old_, band mate, whom I have come to think of as a daughter," he pulled the boy tighter, "I might have to consider making you a eunuch. You know what a eunuch is, dontcha boy?" The boy shook his head, his eyes widening with worry. "Ah! Well, they were often used to guard royal harems. Big, strapping young men. See," he paused to hit his cigarette, "the testosterone swelled up they're muscles, much like a steroid, because it had no where else to go seeing as how their junk had been cut off." he made a flicking motion with his cigarette as if he were cutting something with a knife. "You understand whot I'm sayin', Boy?" he asked sinisterly.

The boy, Zeke, nodded his head vigorously. "Yes, Sir."

"Good!" He said brightly, clapping the boy on the back. "Now, if you'll look in this direction, I believe you'll find a whole gaggle of girls your own age, willing to discuss any topic you like." he gave the young man a small shove, "Go on then."

Zeke nodded again and moved off in the direction indicated without giving Noodle a second glance.

Murdoc turned back to Noodle's enraged face intending to give her a warning about 'guys like that', but instead got an earful of angrily spit Japanese and clenched fists. "Darlin', stop" he raised his hands trying to calm her, "You know I can' understand what you're sayin'…" he started.

"Understand this!" she shouted in English and stomped on his foot hard before storming off.

"Argh! These are genuine Cuban leather, brat!" he let out in pain grabbing at his foot. He watched as she stopped by Lihn shouting more Japanese and Lihn answered her back. He couldn't understand her but she nodded in Murdoc's direction and then in the boys direction, then she threw her hands in the air as Noodle screamed something else he couldn't understand, stomped her foot and stormed out of the back door, rudely shoving past people.

Murdoc started after her, but when he passed Lihn, she reached out and took his hand shaking her head, "Give her a minute."

He wanted to tell her to fuck off, but he looked around the room and noticed the guests who'd stop to pay attention and deflated a bit. "Kids. Am I right?" he said loudly. A few people nodded their heads and everyone seemed to go back to their previous conversations. "Fucking kids." he breathed with more feeling.

Lihn looked up at him from where she sat, still holding his hand. She gave it a squeeze and grinned. "I know she is angry, but what you did, it was… good, sort of. You had good intentions, but you embarrassed her. She feels you are treating her like a child." she explained.

"She _is_ a child." he said hanging on to her hand.

"Yes." she said thoughtfully, "but she is expected to behave grown up in so many situations, it hard for her to accept that she is still a child in other situations."

" Yea, 'cept when she wants to get out of doin' things." he groused.

"Well, she _is_ a child!" she smiled at him. "And do not worry, I will go check on her. Make sure she is not trying to make up for it with someone else!" she winked at the slightly panicked look on his face and pulled herself up off the couch. Murdoc caught her as she nearly fell over the coffee table in her inebriated state. He pulled her upright and she caught herself, placing her hands on his upper arms, laughing. "Perhaps, _I_ should give her a minute!"

Murdoc smiled back, pleased with the current situation. "I think you should give her a _lot_ of minutes." he chuckled.

To his disappointment, she righted herself and backed up a step. She leaned down, reaching for her glass, and nearly tumbled again. But instead of Murdoc catching her, strong hands grabbed her by the waist from behind. "I think maybe you've had enough." a strong New York accident chided her.

Her smiled widened and she turned his hands, wrapping her arms around him. "There you are!"

The British rocker scowled as he realized that Russel was going to get the pay-off for all his hard work. And scowled even more when Russel addressed him.

"What d'you say to Noodle?" he huffed angrily, "she come outside clearly upset and all she said was _you're_ name."

"Don' fuckin' worry bout it." he answered, irritated. He made to walk off but Rus grabbed him by the arm.

"Watch 'at shit, Muds. Nood's ain't 'D, don't you be fuckin' wit her." he said threateningly.

Murdoc went livid. How DARE he accuse him of hurting Noodle. Sure he pushed 2-D around a bit, but he thought of the younger man as little brother. Brother's got into scraps sometimes, he and his older brother, Hannibal fought almost every day when they'd still been speaking. But to imply that he would purposely hurt Noodle, emotionally or physically was drawing the line. He jerked his arm from the other man's grasp and turned swinging.

But he didn't connect with Russel's face as he expected. It was clenched in the palm of a small Japanese hand. He hadn't even seen her move, but she was facing him, still between the large man and himself, her hand a little above her head holding his. Her eyes were stern, she was no longer smiling. She didn't even seem tipsy any more.

"_How'd she do that?"_ she shouldn't even have been strong enough to stop him like that. He glanced around the room, no was even looking at them. It was almost as if they weren't even there.

Lihn let go of his hand and turned to Russel, looking up into his face, she said one word. "Go."

Russel glanced at Murdoc with murder in his eyes, then turned and stalked out of the room, followed by the small woman. She turned and gave him a very disappointed look, then moved out of sight.

There was something about that woman, and he was going to find out what. But first, he was going to head outside and make sure Noodle wasn't talking to another guy.


	12. Chapter 12

** Chapter 12**

** Camera two**

Russel was in deep conversation with Ike Turner about the music business. He still couldn't believe he was casually chatting with _Ike Turner_. He knew the guy had a bad rep, but that shit had happened years ago, and had nothing to do with his knowledge of music. Russel paid attention to everything the man said, soaking up the knowledge.

Del on the other hand was bored. He loved 'spittin' rhyme', but the business side of music was for other people, not him. He really wanted to come out and have some fun, but he knew Russel would be pissed if he interrupted _this_ conversation.

It was kinda shit. Dell could produce a physical form, but the power he had to exert to do it was usually to much for Russel's consciousness to take. If he did it now, Rus'd probably pass out cold, not a convenient situation at most times. So he took advantage of his friend's fondness for naps, but it still sucked. They couldn't hang out together. They were _always_ together but it wasn't the same. No more mock fist fights, no more fist pounds, no more bro-friendly hugs...

This train of thought was depressing.

Del looked around the yard looking for something to distract him. _Look_ wasn't exactly the right word. He could _see_ through his hosts eyes, but he could also use his senses to 'see' what was around them. There were groups of people dotting the yard, some were in the pool, some were around the small bar near the grill where someone was grilling kabobs for the guests. There were a few celebrities, there were a lot of non-celebrities hoping to 'catch a break', and there were quite a few people just looking for a good time. _**Is that Bruce Willis?**_ Russel's eyes flicked in the direction Del was 'seeing'. It _was_ Bruce Willis.

The radio suddenly came back on in the house, Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones was spilling out of the open door. A group of younger women that had just gotten out of the pool started dancing in a circle on the patio. Now _there_ was something that could keep ghost occupied. Wet, scantily clad, women bouncing and gyrating. _**mmhhmm.**_

He watched them for while but then there was a real distraction. The rapper turned ghost sensed _something, _it was subtle like a thread being pulled tight, almost to the breaking point, just a tiny twang in the frequency of weird. Then it was gone. He tried to focus on where it had come from. Then a thought occurred to him.

_**Yo, Rus-man, where's Lihn?**_

Russel didn't answer because he was listening to something Ike was saying, but he looked around at the groups of people chatting around him. He didn't see her and gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. _She's a big girl._ he thought. But something was making him uneasy. His eyes darted around seeking what he was missing, but still trying to pay attention to the conversation. Then it hit him.

_Bro. _he mentally spoke to Del. _Where's Murdoc. _

He no sooner said it than Noodle shoved her way out of the patio doors, nearly knocking over a blonde woman that didn't move out of her way quickly enough. "How rude!" the woman exclaimed. "Well, I'd be pretty pissed if _my _father had done that in front all these people." another girl standing there said to her.

Noodle turned and yelled in english, "He is NOT my father!" and stomped her way down the patio and made to pass by Russel and Ike. Her arms were crossed in front of her and it looked like she was crying.

" 'Scuse me, Mr. Turner," he interrupted their conversation. " Noodle." he grabbed her arm gently, "what's a'matter?"

She pulled her arm away and sobbed one word. "Murdoc." before moving on through the yard.

"What'd he do?" he demanded instantly pissed, but she just kept heading for a darker corner of the yard. "Noodle!"

"S'all right, Blood, I'll keep an eye on 'er." the blue haired singer had followed her out of the house and was on her trail.

"But what happened?" he called after them. _I swear to God, if he laid a hand on her…_

_**You don' really think he'd hit Noods, do ya?**_Del asked surprised.

Russel was trying to watch where she went but Ike nudged him and pointed to the large window beside the patio doors that looked into the great room. "Ain't that your girl?" Lihn was seated on a yellow couch looking up into Murdoc's face, smiling and holding his hand. They could see the half empty bottle of brandy on the coffee table beside the two. "Better take care o' that, Man."

"Yea, thanks." the big man's voice was steady as he shook his mentor's hand and walked away, but he could swear he felt steam coming out of his ears. _I'll break his fuckin' nose again!_

"I'll catch ya again, man." Mr. Turner promised as Russel stalked toward the open doors.

He'd only gotten physical with Murdoc once before. It was when the band was first starting out. Before they'd found Noodle they'd had a different guitarist, Paula Cracker, who at the time, was 2-D's girl friend. But Russel had caught her and Murdoc playing 'hide the pickle' in the bathroom stalls. He'd given Murdoc a broken nose for the it and they kicked Paula out of the band.

Now, he'd done something to Noodle _and_ he was trying to make off with Rus' new girl. The bassist would be lucky if he had any fingers left to play his instrument with when this angry man got done with him.

He walked through the patio doors and down the three steps into the sunken room. The room was full of noise, but he could barely hear the music or the myriad conversations over the blood pounding in his ears. He could see Murdoc and Lihn over the heads of the people in front of him. She was in his arms and laughing. _**Mother fucker.**_ Del's voice sounded in his head. The big, angry man didn't have to push his way through the crowd, people gladly parted for him. He came round the end of the coffee table just in time to catch Lihn as she stumbled reaching for a glass. "I think maybe you've had enough." he said gruffly.

She turned to face him with a huge smile, "There you are!" she said brightly. As if he'd been the one who'd wandered off! But at the moment he was more concerned with what had happened to his young friend.

"What d'you say to Noodle?" he huffed angrily, pointing at the smaller man. "She come outside clearly upset and all she said was _you're_ name."

"Don' fuckin' worry bout it." Muds answered cockily. He made to walk off but Russel reached around Lihn and grabbed him by the arm, stopping him.

"Watch it, Muds. Nood's ain't 'D, don't you be fuckin' wit her." he said threateningly.

Murdoc jerked his arm away and Russel seemed to blink slowly. When he opened his eyes he was staring into a pair of stern, un-naturally green eyes. She said one word to him. "Go." and his feet seemed to move of their own will carrying him toward the big hallway, Lihn close behind him. He cast Murdoc one last threatening glare before he was out of sight.

_**Dude! How'd she do that?**_ Del asked incredulous.

_Do what? _Rus asked almost dis-interested in his angry state as he walked up the hallway toward the front of the house where it was somewhat quieter.

Unaware of the internal conversation, Lihn began speaking, "You may feel it is not my place to say so, but I believe you have jumped to a rather large conclusion. Murdoc did not _do_ anything to Noodle-chan. He was only trying to protect her." she went on but Russel was trying to hear her and Del at the same time.

_**Stop his punch like 'at. I didn't even see her move. **_he sounded shocked. The ghost had told Lihn he wouldn't tell Russel what he knew about her, but he never said he wouldn't point out weird shit Rus should've noticed.

_What? _Russel was lost. _Who?_

_**You serious, Bro? You didn't see that?**_

"And she was upset because she feels that she is treated like a child, but she is still enough of a child that she cannot understand that certain situations may be over her head." the woman went on.

_See what?_ this confusion was only adding to his irritation.

_**Lihn! **_If Del had been in physical form, he have thrown his hands up in exasperation. _**She totally stopped Murdoc's punch mid swing! How'd you fuckin' miss dat?**_

The big man had enough. He stopped in the middle of the hall and threw his hands up. "What in the Hell are you talkin' about?" he demanded out loud.

Lihn, who had been walking slightly behind him, stopped in shock at his outburst, looking a bit panic-y, "I am talking about you insulting Murdoc with your accusations."

Russel looked at her confused, "What? No! Wait, are you taking his side?"

"Delayne!" she accused, realizing that he hadn't been talking to her, or apparently listening, either.

"What?" he reiterated. But he didn't get an answer. Lihn held her small had up in front his face and small ripple of energy could barely be seen as it pulsed out. The confused man's head lolled forward as the misty substance that was Del coalesced beside him. "You were telling him about me!" she accused before he even finished materializing. "You promised!" she hissed.

"No I din't!" he said indignantly, "And how the fuck did you just do that?" He seemed to be pulling in on himself. "Damn that hurt! Don' feel shit fer years an the first thing I get is pain!"

The small woman's features softened and she looked a bit surprised. "Gomenasai! I did not realize that it would hurt you." her demeanor changed again, "But you were telling him! I thought I would be able to trust you, Del!"

"How was I supposed to know he wouldn't see dat? _I_ could see it, why couldn't he? What'd you do at him?" he accused back.

People were starting to stare from the other end of the hall, where most of the party goers were, and a couple of giggling girls could be heard coming down the stairs. "People are taking notice." Lihn said looking for the closest escape.

"They can't see me, just answer the question." he demanded.

"So they just see me talking to the air? Please explain how this is better?" They were only a few feet from Murdoc's office which had a door they could close. "Take his arm." she told Del as she took hold of one of Russel's limp arms.

"What?" the ghost asked, thrown off by the change of subject.

She nodded her dark haired head toward the people at the other end of the hall who were already starting to whisper to each other. "Take his arm." she repeated. He glanced down the hall and took Russel's arm. To his surprise, the prone form began to walk in the direction of Murdoc's office.

Once inside, they sat him on the comfortable looking leather couch that sat along the wall facing the window. Then Lihn moved back to the door to shut it.

"So what'd you do him?" Del jumped right back on subject.

She sighed, "I did nothing to him. I actually stopped time for a few seconds. Only Murdoc and I were moving." she looked thoughtfully at him, "I don't know why it did not affect you. Although, I admit, I have never met a spirit like you before." she moved back to the couch and took the pack of cigarettes from the unconscious bald man's pocket. She slipped one out of the pack and returned them.

"You stopped time…" it wasn't a question, more like a confirmation, as if he must have mis-heard her.

She nodded lighting the cigarette with a lighter that seemed to have appeared out of no where. She moved to the desk and pulled herself up onto it. Her high heel clad feet swung as she puffed. "I should never have accepted that cigarette from Murdoc, earlier." she said blowing smoke, "It took me hundreds of years to quit. I swear, nicotine is the most addictive substance in the universe." she said as if it were the most normal thing a person could say.

"Hundreds of years." again the monotone repetition. "Who the fuck are you?" the bluish form asked incredulously. "And you know what? Don' gimme dat bullshit from dis morning' bout 'people dyin', cos I'm already dead!"

She puffed her cigarette. The look in her eyes said she was debating with herself.

"You said you wanted to trust me, but how'm I supposed ta trust you?" he asked her.

"I just…" she began, "See, it is hard to…" she tried again. She took a deep a breath. "You will not trust me, even if I do tell you." she said sadly. "No one ever does." She stubbed the half smoked cigarette in the ash try on the desk. "I believe I made a mistake coming here. I should have left as soon as I realized where I was."

"What?" Del wasn't sure if she was talking to him or herself and didn't find out.

Just as he spoke they heard a blood curdling scream and a commotion outside the door. Lihn jumped from her perch and yanked the door open and sped from the room. The ghostly man stood at the door and watched as people rushed from the back of the house toward the foyer. He couldn't see around the crowd of people in front of the stair case but he could surmise from the shouts and conversations that some one had fallen down them. He sighed in irritation and pushed the door shut.

He should have told Russel already. They didn't know anything about this chick except that she was hot. She was obviously lying about who she was, he was pretty sure that she wasn't even human. And she was somehow tied to Noodle, her 'vibe' told him that.

And she _said_ she wasn't dangerous, but like she would really tell him if she was. She could phase through walls, she could stop time, who knew what else she could do? For all he knew she could have made someone fall down the stairs just to get out of the conversation. He forced himself to pause. Maybe he was jumping to conclusions, she hadn't done anything to make him think she was malicious. But she wasn't telling the truth.

He glanced at Rus, his friend really liked the girl. He was going to be so disappointed when he found out she hadn't been truthful with him. And he was going to be even madder if he found out that Del knew and didn't tell him. He wanted to give Lihn the chance to tell him herself, he actually found himself liking her despite the mis-trust, but it didn't seem she was going to be telling anyone her truths yet, if ever. And he certainly wasn't going to lie for her.

No. He'd decided. As soon as Russel regained consciousness he was going to want to know what happened and Del was going to tell him.


	13. Chapter 13

** A/N: I've gotten much of the characters back round information from the book, Gorillaz Rise of the Ogre. It's a great read! Enjoy the chapter, reviews are always appreciated.  
**

** Chapter 13**

The Truth?

Lihn dashed out the office door. She pushed herself through the few people that had already gathered in front of the staircase which split the hall and ended in the foyer. A young woman was lying at the bottom grasping her leg and crying while another girl was talking to her. It must have been the two she'd heard upstairs a few moments ago.

"What happened?" she asked crouching down to check the girl. It was obvious her leg was broken, human legs don't bend at that angle.

"Something pushed her!" the other girl yelled hysterically. "It was small and black and it came out of no where and it pushed her!"

Lihn eyes narrowed. "_You'll see, there's nothing' ta worry about." _Murdoc's words echoed in her mind. More people from the party were starting to come down the hall. She stood quickly and took the hysterical girl by the arms. "You are talking nonsense!" she said loudly. "Calm down." The first group of people entered the foyer and she turned to them taking the role of command. "You." she nodded at the tall dark haired man in the front. "Go, call an ambulance. This girl has fallen down the stairs and broken her leg. There is a phone in there." she nodded toward the sitting room. Looking at the girls behind him she said, "Go with him, bring the couch cushions, make her as comfortable as possible."

More party goers were entering the hall and Lihn gave tasks to the first few, sending one for a bucket of ice, another for a towel to wrap it in. She put someone in charge of the hysterical friend telling them that she must have drunk to much and to just keep her calm. She sent a small group outside to watch for the ambulance and sent someone to find Murdoc.

All the while she was watching out the corner of her eyes for the shadow. She inwardly berated herself for not being able to take care of it already. She was letting herself get distracted too easily. A simple shadow demon should have been child's play for her, but the mystery surrounding Noodle, and then the thing with Russel and Del, were taking up her attention, not to mention the new issue with that Jimmy fellow. _"Jimmy."_ she thought darkly. As if on cue, he entered the foyer followed by his herd. He scanned the scene almost dis-interestedly until his eyes fell on Lihn. She watched his face change from bored to concerned as he crossed over to her.

"Lihn, what happened?" he voice dripped with mock concern, "Did someone get _hurt_?" he put unnecessary stress on the last word and his eyes changed slightly as if to say, 'take the hint'.

She opened her mouth to confront him but just at that moment, Murdoc entered loudly demanding to know what had happened. Spotting Lihn in the center of things, he stalked over to her, his attitude toward her much changed from just a little while ago. "Whot the hell happened?"

As Lihn turned her attention to the angry host, Jimmy and his friends took the opportunity to slip form the room. "The girl fell on the stairs. She is injured, an ambulance is on the way to care for her." Lihn stepped in closer so that only he would hear her. "The other girl says she was pushed by a shadow."

The irritated man waved a hand dismissively, "She's probably on something, all these kids are these days."

"Is Noodle on something?" she hissed, "she saw it too! The first day we were here. And I have seen it as well." she grabbed the front of his shirt, "You know very well it was real!"

He looked at the hand on the front of his shirt with distaste before swiping it away. "I'll take care of it." He growled. "When this blows over." he glanced around at the crowded foyer.

"Damn right, you will, and I will be there to make sure of it." Lihn turned and walked away before he had the chance to protest.

She moved to the injured girl, some of the other guests had propped her up on some cushions, but the poor girl writhed in pain. Kneeling, she held the girls hand and placed the other on the girls forehead. She whispered soothing words and subtly pushed a calming energy into the girls head. By the time the ambulance arrived, the medics found the girl breathing calmly, though still pale from shock. Lihn moved aside to let them do their job and went back to Murdoc's office hoping to find Del and Russel still there.

As she reached for the door knob, the door was yanked open. The native New Yorker almost walked into her as he exited the room angrily. He looked down at her and opened his mouth to say something, then clamped it shut as if he'd thought better of it. He turned toward the front hall but seeing the crowd there, he headed the other way, toward the back of the house.

"Russel?" she called. _"Damn that Delayne."_ He must have told what he knew of her, which wasn't much, but still… Things were getting out of control, quickly. Less than two weeks into this new 'life' and things were already messy. She had to deal with this Jimmy character, the shadowy demon creature, close any gaps these fools had left open with their summoning circle, and now she had to run damage control on a new relationship. All she wanted was a quiet normal-as-possible life.

She stopped mid stride, at the end of the hall and watched Russel move into the great room. _"I don't have to do any of this."_ she thought. _"I could just leave. Right now." _She glanced around. No one was paying her any attention. She could 'port' out and start somewhere new. Perhaps she would just go home for a while, take some down time, the Powers That Be knew she could use it!

She had her mind made up when Noodle entered through the patio doors her face still screwed up in anger, and the older woman's resolve crumbled. Fate had brought her here for a reason, most likely to tie up this loose end, but she had to be sure first...

In her mind she saw another little girl coming toward her, smaller but wearing the same face. She had a delicate sword poised to strike. As the girl moved in her direction, her pulse began to quicken. What if she was wrong? Her mind cleared and her eyes saw again the scene before her.

What if she _was_ wrong? Suppose Noodle is just some unfortunate girl with amnesia longing to know who she is. Then the only link she has to her past shows up and after little more than a week, disappears into thin air. It would likely crush her. _"Damn human emotions!" _

That was the difference between Lihn and others like her. She hadn't been born this way. She been born human and had never learned to let go of human emotions. It was her curse. She still craved their company and was always getting wrapped up in their petty lives. Look where it had gotten her last time. Or was it still this time? What if she was right? But if the girl couldn't remember anything, was she really a liability?

Either way, if she wasn't going to port out, she had things to do. She watched Noodle as she passed down the hallway, making a show of not looking in her direction. The young woman was still angry that Lihn had not taken her side against Murdoc. The older woman turned as she watched her. "_Did I mis-count? Could I have missed one?" _

She nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand dropped her shoulder. "Whot's all the to do? Somebody get 'urt?" It was 2D! "Sorry." he grinned a bit sheepishly, "Din mean ta scare ya."

"It is OK." Lihn replied pulling herself together. "Yes, a girl fell on the stairs."

"Shit! She all right?" he seemed genuinely concerned.

"No." Lihn shook her head, "she broke her leg. But the ambulance has already arrived. She will be fine."

"Are _you_ alrigh'?" he asked looking into her face. "You look… well," he wracked his brain an appropriate word, "Frazzled." he grinned as he said it, making Lihn grin as well.

"Origato, I am fine." she lied. "I must find Russel, though. I need to speak with him."

"Oh" he looked disappointed for a moment but it passed quickly. "I fink I saw 'im go inta da music room."

She gave his arm a squeeze, "Thank you, 2D-san." she said as she moved away.

'D watched her until he was distracted by another curvy body, he was pretty sure he had a chance with this one…

Russel pounded the bass peddle with his foot while his arms moved seemingly of their own will, playing a beat. This was where he was most comfortable. This was where he came when he was upset. The beat always helped him to feel better.

The world had a rhythm. Sometimes it felt chaotic and rushed, other times it was slow and methodical, but most times it was somewhere in between. The beat was real, it was truth. It was the sound of Mother Earth's heart. It was the only place Russel Hobbs found comfort after the disturbing happenings of his past.

He was nervous about coming back to America when they'd been on tour. He was afraid that someone would recognize his name and the stories would come out to torment him again. And here they were now. Even on the opposite coast, he was nervous. Stories about boys mauling their classmates don't die that easily.

Russel had always been a beacon to the nether-side. When he was a boy, attending the Xavier Institute for Young Achievers, he'd been possessed by a cruel demon and, using his body, it had gone on a rampage, injuring and even killing some of the other students. Afterwards he spiraled into a depression and fell into a catatonic, coma-like state. He was like that for four years. Then his mother, against his father's wishes, had a priest come in and exorcise the demon from his body.

After that was when he began to attend the Brooklyn High School. He remembered nothing of the incident but he remembered the stares and the whispers. Life was difficult for him until he fell in with Del and the crew. They taught him about music. They were street musicians, rappers, Djs and Mcs, they taught him that hip hop could save.

No matter how bad of day he had, the right beat could make it all go away, for a while at least. That was part of the reason he'd stayed at Kong when Murdoc first nabbed him. He could tell that Murdoc had the knowledge and the talent, he'd just never had the right group. 2D was full of talent and with his dark eyes and pale skin, he had that mysterious, other-worldly look that girls dig. He was a perfect front man. With right guitarist, they could really be something! And then _his_ beats would reach other souls, other troubled kids, like he'd been, to find those brief moments of peace.

Peace that wasn't coming easy to Russel at the moment. "_Damn! I knew there was something about her!" _he chided himself. _"I mean, there HAD to be something, din't there? Otherwise, I wouldn't have liked her." _he hit the snare a bit harder than necessary.

_**Chill out man. Aybody'd fall for a pretty face. Can't blame yerself.**_

"_Fuck you ,Del! You coulda said sumthin' sooner. Like, maybe before I screwed her!" _He thought angrily, missing a beat_._

_**Whatever, Dude, you needed dat. I wan't gonna mess it up.**_

"_Needed that?! What if she turned out at be some kinda black widow? Steal yer seed and eat your face off."_

Dell couldn't help but laugh at that. _**Relax, Russ. You know I wouldna let dat happen. Sides, whatever she is, she's fuckin' FINE.**_

"_Yea, well, that don' make up for her hiding shit." _He stopped his assault on the drums for a moment and sighed. _"I know she only been around fer a short time, but I was really likin her. She's sweet, and smart. She got a thing fer music close to my own appreciation fer the art."_ he grinned inwardly and on the outside, "_and yea, she's fine too." _he began to play again, quiet for a few moments. "You really think she's not human?" he said aloud.

_**I dunno man. She could've come into some kind of power somewhere, but there's somethin' bout the way she moves and the way she seems to be lookin' **__in __**ya, instead of **__at __**ya. She sounded like she been alive for a wicked long time too. She just don' vibe right.**_

"_But you said her vibe was like Noodle's. Ain't never felt nuthin' weird bout Noods."_

_**Right, right**__**… Maybe she's copyin' it.**_

"_What?" _the beat he played changed subtly becoming less energetic, steadier.

_**She says she's Noodle's aunt, but there ain't no way. Maybe she just picked Noods as some kinda disguise. **_A thought occurred to him, _**Wan't Noods the first person to run inta her back at Kong?**_

"_Yea…"_

_**All right, stay wit me, what if she's some kinda shape shifter? **_

"_What?!"_

_**Yea! And like, Noods is the first person she sees, so she copies her, only she don' wanna be exactly the same so she makes herself older, then all she gots ta do is listen and come up wit a story. Noodle made it easy for her, havin' no memory an all.**_

Russel didn't reply. He'd experienced enough odd things in his life for this to make sense. The moment they first touched, when she'd fallen in the bathroom at Kong, he knew there was something odd about her. Could she be some kind of shape changing creature? There enough oddities surrounding the old building they used as a studio that it was not that far fetched.

"_But what could she want from us?"_

_**Dunno Bro. She said, she just wants ta be happy. She don' seem dangerous, but neither did the little boy that tore up the Xavier Institute…**_

"_Yea, bring dat up!"_

_**Sorry, Russ. I'm just sayin'. She might not think she's a threat, but somethin' that can stop time? And who knows what else she can do?**_

Russel played for another minute letting his mind encompass the beat.

_**You gon tell the others?**_

The drummer shook his head. _"No, not yet. We'll keep an eye her. Besides, I don' wanna upset Noods. She's been havin' a rough time and finding her aunt seemed to cheer her up. But I ain't hidin' from Lihn. I'm gonna tell her I know._

Just as he said it, the door opened slowly. The object of their conversation entered hesitantly. She closed the door behind herself. She didn't speak, just leaned against a wall, looking at the floor like a child who'd been scolded. She picked at the seam of her dress and unconsciously began tapping her foot in time to his beat.

Russel continued to play for a few minutes, but when she still made no move to interrupt him, he finished with a flourish and her head jerked in his direction. Her eyes were full of worry. Her brow had a little crease in the middle and she was biting her bottom lip. She certainly didn't _look_ dangerous. _"Looks just like Noods."_

He sighed and dropped his sticks on the tom and stood. "_I know how to get her ta relax." _He crossed the room to where she stood and pulled a joint from his cigarette pack. He lit it, took a puff and breathed out, "So what's tha deal?" he held the joint out, offering it to her. She took it and breathed it gently. "Are you human or what?" he got to the point.

She seemed irritated by the question. "Am I human?" she spat. "I was _born_ a human, but now?" she handed him back the joint. "I am not human _enough_ for humans and _too_ human for everyone else." she made an irritated sound.

Russ was a little surprised by her reaction to the question but pushed on. "You don' think that was somethin' you might have mentioned?" he passed the joint back to her.

"What of you?" she returned, "If I had not asked about Del, would you have volunteered the information?"

"Sure." he replied quickly. "Maybe I'd have waited till I knew you better…"

"Exactly," she cut him off. "Do you think not being human is something I advertise?" she passed back to him, "Have you _met_ other humans? You are not all peaches and sunshine, you know."

He breathed out noisily. "All right. Point taken." he hit the joint again and offered it back to Lihn, who shook her head. "So if you ain't human, what are ya?"

She sighed. "Give me a cigarette, please.?" he pulled one out and handed it to her, before he pulled his lighter back out, she already had it lit. She slid down the wall, to sit with her back against it as she puffed. "I hope you are listening, Del. I hate to tell it twice." she said loudly.

_**I see how it is. Wouldn't tell me shit! You ask one time…**_

"He hears ya." he said sitting beside her.

She sighed again. "You have heard the story of Aladdin's Lamp, yes? Or some version of it, I am sure." Russel nodded. "Every version has certain similarities that never change. Aladdin is a poor boy who finds a 'magic lamp' that contains a magical creature that grants wishes."

"The genie." her companion added.

"Indeed." she glanced at him then back at the floor. "These facts never change because they are the truths. The details of the story may have been forgotten or embellished over the years, but the truths remain."

_**She sayin that's a true story?**_

"That is exactly what I am saying." she looked at Russel, answering Del.

The surprised man asked, "How'd you hear him?"

She held up a hand, "let me finish." she puffed the cigarette. "The story is true. It did not happen in this dimension, but it _did_ happen. The one thing all stories gloss over though, is that the genie, or Djinn as we are known elsewhere, had a name. He had a family and a home before he was captured and made a slave. You see, the lamp was not the genies home, it was his cage, and eventually, his coffin."

_**Wait, wait, wait,.. WE?**_

"Yea, you said, "as we are called" so you're saying you're a genie." The big man asked incredulously.

"A Djinn, yes." she said taking a last puff off the cigarette. Then she seemed to snap her fingers around the butt and it disappeared. She chuckled at the surprise on her new friends face. "It is nice not having to hide for a bit."

Russel recovered. "But you said you were born human."

She nodded. "Yes. A poor, weak farm girl, trapped in a horrid life until she accidentally discovered an imprisoned Djinn. She helped him to get free and in exchange she asked only to be like him, so that she could be free of her hellish existence." she said vehemently.

"We're still talkin' about you, right?" Russ asked.

Lihn shook her head, "That is not me anymore. I will never be her again." her face was filled with determination.

Russel could sense it was a touchy subject and moved on, "So why'd you choose Noodle?"

"What?" she asked shortly, looking at him suspiciously.

"If you're a genie… a Djinn, you could look like whatever you want, right? So why'd you pick Noodle? You pick up on the amnesia thing?"

"Oh." she looked relieved. "No, It was the randomizer. I think it malfunctioned." she looked away from him again, staring at the carpet as she spoke. "I really had been Dr. Nori Lihn in Japan, but when I decided to jump, I was still the same person. It was just a coincidence." she looked everywhere but in his face. "It just made sense to use her as my excuse for popping up out of nowhere."

"What's a randomizer?" he didn't think she was being quite truthful, but he didn't have anything other than feeling to go on, so he let it go.

She moved her hand and a device appeared in her grasp. Its sudden appearance caused him to jump slightly, until she'd done that, the whole idea seemed unreal. The randomizer was black, and about the size of a TV remote. It had dials and markings on it and a one large button. "I picked it up on a planet that is like a giant market. People from all over the universe go there to sell their wares, I spend days at time shopping and I have not seen everything yet!" her eyes sparkled as she spoke. "The randomizer transports whoever is touching it to a random place and time, and I can synch my Talent with it to create an automatic persona." Russel nodded at her but was overwhelmed and confused. She must have noticed his discomfort, she waved her hand and the device disappeared again then she looked back at the floor as if embarrassed.

_**Ain't genies supposed ta be all powerful and shit?**_

"There _are_ limitations. I am not a god." she said shaking her head.

_**Yea, but you could like, have money and cars and shit. **_

She smiled slyly, "and slaves, and armies to command. I could pick any planet and rule supreme!" she gave a theatrical 'evil laugh'. Both The man and the ghost felt a twinge of nervousness as she smiled at them and shrugged. "Been there, done that, as they say. You could say I was less than mature, when I first discovered my abilities. But I learned my lesson after my first run in with a boogey-man."

"Boogey-man?" _**Boogey-man?**_ they both repeated.

She nodded again, her dark hair slipping over her eye. "Remember I said the genie in the story was a slave? The boogey-men are the slave traders. I do not remember what they are really called, but they are a race of people whose innate ability is to absorb other peoples power." her voice sounded a bit hollow, "When the creature touched me, all my Talents became useless, I may as well have been human. He was going to bind me to a locket and sell me to some rich Bollgian woman." she made a disgusted sound.

"How'd you get away?" The big man was fascinated.

Her eyes took on a far away look. "That was when I realized the value of friendship. They forgave me, they saved me, and we took care of each other until… until it was time for me to move on." Her sorrow was almost touchable.

"So you just pick a place and stay until the people you care for…" he left the sentence unfinished.

"Sometimes. If I care enough. Sometimes, I just feel it's time to go." she shrugged.

"How old are you?" He asked in wonder.

She smiled and bumped her shoulder against his, "You should know better than to ask a Lady her age!" she laughed a little.

_**Hundreds of years…**_ Del echoed her words from earlier.

Russel couldn't read her look, it was something between embarrassment and irritation, "Does it really matter?"

Did it? Russel was uncomfortable. She was technically the same person that she'd been an hour ago, but…

Her eyes held a touch of worry, "Does it?" she asked again and touched his hand. He flinched at her touch, immediately regretting it, when he saw the look on her face. "Ok." she said, quietly, moving to stand. "I understand."

"Lihn, wait!" He moved to get his feet as well. _"Beat it, Dell." _

_**What?!**_

"_Gimme a minute, man." _He could feel his friend's irritation, but got the 'alone' feeling he was looking for. He stopped the other-worldly woman with a hand on her arm. "I'm sorry." she turned back to him, looking into his face, "It's just gonna take some getting' used to." He placed his other hand on her other arm, holding her in his gaze. "This is different than spirits, ya know? I been dealing with them my whole life. But I didn't even _believe_ in UFOs. This is new ground fer me."

She seemed to relax a bit and nodded, "Sure." she said almost convincingly, "I'm used to it." she shrugged, "Just take your time, we'll go slow till you feel more comfortable."

He could see the doubt in her eyes as clearly as he could feel it within himself. He leaned his face towards hers hesitantly, feeling like the first night they'd kissed, but when her lips touched his, all nervousness left him. She kissed him back, but it felt somehow guarded, and after only a moment she stepped back.

"Must I tell the others?" she asked him.

He thought of Noodle and how upsetting it would surely be to find out she still had no real link to her past. Then he thought of Murdoc with the possibility of unlimited wish fulfillment at his disposal and nearly blurted out, "No!" he composed himself, "No. I think it will be alright to keep it between us for now."

She sighed, looking truly relieved, "Origato, Russel-san." She stepped in close and reaching up, kissed him as he slipped his arms around her.


End file.
